jet_jockey

oh ok. I thought you were saying that the starter was spinning free like the starter gear wasn't catching on the flexplate, or turning the motor.

there are a few ways to get a stubborn crank bolt out. use a 1/2 or 3/4 impact with a large torque rating, or have someone wrap a belt around the pulley and then use a breaker bar to get leverage on it while you break it loose. Don't reuse the belt after doing this because it stretches it bigtime.

that chain wrench option looks good too.

akfredz

on my '96 3.0L there is a flywheel inspection plate on the bottom of the flywheel housing, remove the 2 10mm bolts. you may already have it opened if so I used a flat bar and positioned it flat on the flywheel and turned the crank until one of the flywheel bolts wedges the flat bar in tight against the housing. Now use a 1/2" drive breaker bar, and a small piece of pipe as a cheater. I had enough room to work the breaker bar and cheater under the hood now all you do is put some muscle into it. You should have someone underneath making sure your flat bar and bolt do not slip. After I got my crankshaft bolt out and looked at the treads and it appeared they had used some locktite on the first 4 or 5 treads.
Good Luck

Pheonix

The crankshaft, flexplate an flywheels (for M/T's) can be keyed differently, and simply be different parts all together. The majority of them are the same, but afew are different.

Check the ring-gear and make sure you're getting a good mesh that will turn the engine over. Passed that, try a new starter. OEM toyota starters from the 80's-90s wear out faster than the timing belts do.