I did mine about 6 months ago, with a lot of help from "nmeinc" My mechanical knowledge was/is fairly limited. Headers, brakes, maintainence, etc. That kind of thing. I was in a bit over my head, said a lot of bad words, broke a few things here and there, but we got it done. And I am kinda glad I did it now, although at the time, I was regretting it. Now, I feel a lot more comfortable with my truck, and knowing where stuff is. But without Karl's help, I would have been screwed.

Anyway, I used a DOA kit. And I wish I hadn't. I paid the big money, the kit came with the gaskets all bent up, and when I contacted DOA about it, they were really sh*tty to me. Sure, the gasket thing was no big deal, really... but the attitude I got, left a real bad impression...

I've installed two DOA timing kits and have been satisfied with both. I didn't pull the head either time and didn't have any leaks, but, as Bill Morgan said, you might just as well pull the head and replace the head gasket while your into the engine. I just got done doing a head gasket replacement on my 85 4Runner with 143,000 miles. I did the timing chain at 133,000 miles. It would have been much simpler to do both at the same time.

Also, I think the money is well spent to get DOA's kit with all steel guides. On both 22R engines I did, it wasn't just the driver's side guide that was broken.

Allan

Personally, I'd buy from EngineBuilder. He posts here regularly, is very helpfull, and one of the most affordable suppliers around. As such, I tend to do business with folks like that, and recommend them to others.

The kits themselves all seem to be the same. You're not getting something special from any of them apparently.

Installing the timing cover without removing the head is not particularly hard and can be done quite successfully.

Length of time to failure for the oem plastic guides varies tremendously. One of my 22RE engines has about 330,000 on the original guides and chain.

Ditto on engnbldr.com

I went OEM all the way. Toyota won't tell you this - Tsubaki is their OEM supplier. I picked up a complete kit(w/plastic guides) for about $100.00 - saving about $150.00 if I had gone with the Toyota dealership. WorldPac is the importer which carries the brand and sells only to distributors or shops. Worked with a local shop to get my kit.