Completed my first timing belt replacement and wanted to do my little bit of giving back with what I discovered while doing the service. This is from the perspective of a complete noob so may be helpful to other complete noobs and not as helpful to those who have experience working on vehicles.

1. Rent the proper tools. I found that while you CAN do the service using universal tools which cost much much less. It was seemingly worth renting the proper tools to not have the stress (especially as a new mechanic). I used the gates dual cam locker to hold the cams and to use it at those torques you are pretty much required to wedge the flanges of the tool against the strut that is above and between the cam gears. If you don't, the cam gear holder will not be able to hold the gears based solely on tension. Also, using a socket to hold the fan pulley worked but became quite an issue. It was very liable to slip off under tension. I have 2 busted knuckles because of this. I'd recommend a universal pulley holder from napa at least.

2. Mark EVERYTHING. and defend those marks at all costs. I almost rubbed one off while cleaning the rear timing cover.

3. If the guide you're using doesn't already mention it (some don't), when you are trying to insert the cam locking pin on the intake side you can pull the filler cap and use a flashlight to look in and see the hole in the camshaft. This will allow you to line it up with the hole and insert the pin (you can watch the pin go in).

3. The flywheel holding pin that is inserted on the bottom of the engine will most likely not fit (I got a non OEM pin and it was too long to fit past the flange in front of the hole.

4. Be prepared to be very stressed, I likely have acquired a few new gray hairs from the first time I started the engine after the belt was on. But it ran 7 seconds without the sound of cams meeting pistons at a high velocity, before I shut it off (I hadn't reconnected cooling system, etc.)

5. Be prepared to find broken and very dirty things if its been through some tough love. Mine had the grill guard up front snapped in half, several plastic brackets broken, airbox mounting points broken. If you're ocd like me it'll really bother you. JB weld should help a little. Also I found out that the previous owner (there was only one) may have had an affinity for mud. Nothing is ever like the instructional videos.

6. Replace all things under the timing cover that you can. Water pump, thermo, pulleys, idler, etc. It is a LONG procedure just to get back there for a first timer. You do not wanna do it again. Also if you lose an idler pulley you can add pulling the head to the fun. It's worth the money.

That is my disorganized attempt at helping out a little bit because of the help I've gotten. You'll be seeing more questions of me soon because my dad misread the polarity markings on the battery and it looks like I'll be doing a BCM replacement at the least.

Thanks a lot guys and if you have any more noob questions I may have an answer from the noob perspective.

First and foremost, congratulations on a successful job!


This would be a good indicator that this is not the correct tool.


If you're referring to one of these?
http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Catal ... 0293962624

A couple of bolts can easily convert it into a cam holding tool:

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Thank you!

Thats the exact tool I was looking at after the struggle with the socket.

As for the cam tool I used, it was the gates dual cam locker. It got the job done but compared to how easy the miller tool seemed to lock on it wasn't worth it.

It already got it on order with my napa for throwing the fan/clutch back on.

Until then I'm painstakingly cleaning everything while I got it apart. Did I mention the PO had an affinity for mud?

I'm debating if its worth buying the special tool to remove the decoupler pulley from the alternator, I bought a replacement one but didn't look into the process of removing/installing it lol.

There was a thread a while back detailing how to make a tool but it''s a 5 minute job and many alternator refurb shops will put it on for free if you take your alternator to them and buy the new decoupler from them. It will probably also cost less than buying the part alone from your local auto parts chain store.

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I've have done 2 decoupler changes now and have always taken the alt completely off and then using a hex head and impact and spin it right off

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2005 Crd Silver Limited- arps, rockers, 7v etechno's, egr deleted, v6 airbox, metal cac's. Yeti's stage 2 tune. Euro TC, Ram tcm, pml transmission pan, facet lift pump

Impact rocks, no need for any kit. And they came down in price, a decent electric impact is less than $200 now...

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2005 kj CRD, samco, suncoast tc, provent, Kennedy lift pump, GDE ECO full torque, 2nd gen filter head, 245/70/16 a/t tires, mopar light bar, fumoto oil valve, OEM Skid Plates, ARB Front bumper and HD OME, tru cool LPD47391 40k GVW tranny cooler (stock cooler delete), FF Dynamics e-fan and shroud, rocker arms replaced, HDS2 190F thermostat.