Ok so when I repaced my timing belts I put the covers back on. Now I really have no interest in keeping them on..Can I just bust em up & take em off(carefully of course)? Without getting all the way back in there the way I did it last time?

Why not wait until you need to change the belts, or something else again?

Why not wait until you need to change the belts, or something else again?

 

Well....because then I'd need to take the air conditioning, alternator, main pulley crank thingy, all that off again...when I could skip all that if the covers were gone..so I'm looking to skip that the next time if I can.

You can but its still a pain if you have everything in your way. Its your car so do what you want. My bolts wouldt come out so I just ripped them off. Becarful you dont hit your Radiator.

not worth it.. if you REALLY want to lose the covers, invest the time now when you have it to spare to remove all that crap, and remove the covers properly. Busting the covers apart IS just asking for a piece of debris that you missed to somehow break off in the future and go into your belts.

 

I run with the covers off, and dont hesitate to do so.. but I would HIGHLY recommend AGAINST just busting them off haphazardly. "Leaving them off" and "Breaking them off" are two different issues.. just wait until next time and simply neglect to re install them, or take the time to remove them properly to save yourself the time in the future. Running without covers IS a risk; anyone who does so will agree with me.. so may as well just leave them on until something necessitates their removal.

i'm confused, can't you get it off by just removing the crank pulley? that's not that difficult is it?

 

i too advise against "breaking" them off...depending how you define "breaking", you could carefully extract it...get all the bolts off and then carefully crack it around the crank pulley as necessary, that's the only breaking required right?

bust 'em off. remove the bolts. done.

Ok, I suppose I'll wait until they need to come off, and leave them off. I remember having to take a whole lot of things off before I could get to all the bolts..the main front crank (whatever it's called)...I thought there was more but I've forgotten. Probably since it was my first time it seemed (and was) harder than in needed to be.

I agree I'd probably get a peice of something stuck in there if I broke them up.

Can I reach all the bolts without removing anything? I could handle that, if I could get them all out then just break it enough to get it around the crank pulley...

Well, for now they stay.

Ask yourself how much deep snow do you drive through. The covers keep the belts from jumping off. It protects them from getting packed with snow.

 

If it was florida i would say go ahead.

 

 

nipper

Can I reach all the bolts without removing anything? I could handle that, if I could get them all out then just break it enough to get it around the crank pulley...

Well, for now they stay.

 

No, The bolts around the crank are obscured by the Crank pulley. It has to come off to get to the bolts.(unless you've got crazy swivel, ratcheting, wreches or something.) Not too much really has to come off to unbolt them. You could do it in an hour I'm sure.

Ok, cool.

I live in Montana where there's at least supposed to be snow...

But I don't get crazy in my car, it's a commuter, road trip car, it will go off road plenty, but I don't search out mud or deep snow, I'm more into rock crawling and steep hills if I do anything crazy..