Hi all, I've been lurking and benefiting from the wealth of knowledge here for a few months, and I'm hoping you can help me out!
I recently picked up my first Montero, a 98 Gen 2.5 with winter package and 165,000 miles, in very good shape, WOO! Was enjoying the truck quite a lot, and quickly went ahead and did the timing belt, water pump, etc. The process seemed to go well, but afterward, I noticed the crank pulley was wobbling. Argh!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" /> However, I assumed it was possible that I'd been too rough on it or the rubber was going bad, so I pulled it off again and replaced with a new crank pulley. No improvement. Regretfully, I never looked at this before I tore into things, so it may have been doing this ever since I bought it. So, here are the details:
---------The wobble---------
-Appears RPM dependent, seemingly disappearing at higher RPM. Probably just a visual illusion, though.
-I initially thought it was temperature dependent... Oddly, the pulley seems much less wobbly when the engine is first started, then gets worse once it warms up. After further examination, I'd be willing to concede that it probably just seems this way due to the higher idle speed when the engine is cold.
-The alternator belt can be observed "dancing" slightly on its idler pulley, but not much. It seems to be a fairly subtle wobble, but that's still unacceptable!
---------What (I think) I did right---------
-The crank bolt is the newest design, with a new washer.
-The bolt is torqued to the full 135 ft*lb, I spent the time making a proper tool to ensure it was tight.
-The crank pulley is now brand new, lined up properly on the roll pin in the sprocket.
-The crank position blade and spacer are pressed firmly onto the t-belt sprocket, with the two small pins in place.
-Once fully torqued, the crank pulley is not loose, and can't be moved. It definitely seems to be tight.
---------What I'm suspicious of---------
1. The crank sprocket keyway looks undamaged, BUT appears larger than I would expect. The sprocket has nearly 1/2 tooth worth of rotational play on the crank when not torqued down. It fits rather loosely onto the crankshaft as well. Can anyone confirm if this is normal? The woodruff key itself is extremely tight in the crank keyway, so I didn't try to remove it.
2. The crank pulley was surprisingly easy to press onto the sprocket. It's a fairly loose fit until the bolt is torqued. When I first removed the original pulley, it was very tightly fused to the sprocket.
3. Could the replacement bolt+washer be slightly too long, bottoming out in the crank rather than applying the full torque to the pulley?
4. From what I've read, I gather it's fairly unlikely that the crank/bearings are actually bent/cracked/worn badly enough to cause this. Nonetheless, is there a reasonable method to check the snout runout?
.....
After the new balancer failed to fix it, I figured I might just drive the truck... but my gut just won't let me do that, just waiting for the bolt to snap and let that pulley loose. My next move would probably be to replace the crank sprocket, position blade, and spacer, unless there are better options.
Any input would be appreciated! I want to get this baby out on the trails... But I'd also like to make it back home.
