Gates TCK304 PowerGrip Premium Timing Belt Component Kit

I had meant to take pictures of the old vs. new bearings, but I was in the middle of it and completely immersed in the maintenance at hand. First impressions: it came in a box with a tray holding the bearings (two were individually wrapped), very secure considering shipping companies toss your stuff all over. Everything matched, EXACTLY DOWN TO THE TINY WRITING, for all the bearings. The belt, obviously was not a match, but it is a Made In USA part and I can attest to its quality. I did countless hours of research trying to decide what kit to buy, there is eBay, SubaruGenuineParts, vendors on the forums, etc. etc. No one came close to this price, it almost seemed like a scam. How could they possible contain the same parts for literally more than 1/2 the price less. The lowest genuine Subaru part kit cost about $250 of all the places I found, and I found A LOT. I figured since I have prime I'll ship it out fast, if it's crap I'll send it back. The bearings, idler, tensioner were all OEM exact parts from NTN, NSK, and KOYO. Individually these parts cost well over $120. It is a steal of a deal, the belt is quality, and the markings line up exactly to the teeth. The instructions that came in the box were even nearly identical copies from the subaru master tech manuals (which if you need better details, here you go: http://ken-gilbert.com/impreza-manuals). Best piece of advice, take the radiator out, it gives you tons of room, way easier to work on. Getting the pulley off I used the bump start method, generally it is recommended to be very careful using this. It worked for me, but use with extreme caution. I also removed the camshaft pulleys while the old belt was still tensioned on, and finger tightened them back, installed and tensioned the new belt, and then torqued them down by putting it in 5th gear and ebrake on (not sure about autos, and used the same technique to torque the crank pulley). Overall, very smooth, easy instructions. Fantastic product, will buy again when/if needed. GOOD LUCK.

Looks to be high quality materials and construction. Everything fit and worked right. Decent price, good deal.

My 2004 Forester XS hit the 125,000 mile mark, and I began on the quest of doing my 2 year maintenance. Did my oil and oil filter, cabin and air filters, front and rear differential fluids, transmission and power steering fluids, the fuel filter, and finally the spark plugs and spark plug cables. After going through there recommended guide to see if I missed anything important, I found I indeed had - the timing belt! Subaru recommends replacing at 105,000 miles, and reading up online I heard horrific tales of the belts failing at 125-140k miles, leaving the poor driver stranded and at the mercy of the nearest mechanic. Determined not to let this happen to me, I started looking in to timing belt replacement and found it would run $1,000+ easily. Holy cow! Shaking my head in disbelief and refusing to spend that much a car that's only worth about $7,500 on a good day, I began to look in to doing the job myself. Countless hours on youtube and reading subaruforester.org led me to conclude the Gates TCK304 kit was my best bet, and at well under $200 it seemed like a bargain. Getting access to the timing belt on a Subaru is no easy task - it requires removing the accessory belts, radiator, crank bolt and pulley, and finally the cover. However, when I finally reached the belt and its pulleys, I was happy to see I had made the right choice. The pulleys in the Gates kit were ABSOLUTELY IDENTICAL to the factory-installed ones on my Forester. The belt, while a different brand, was of high quality and included easy to see markings so I could line it up to the spots the old one came off. If you're working on a Subaru with 100,000+ miles I'd recommend replacing or at least inspecting the following since you'll have easy access to do so: - Thermostat, thermostat gasket, and heater hose - Water pump and water pump gasket - Radiator hoses, especially the lower one - Crank and cam seals - Outer Accessory belts And note that since changing the timing belt requires removing the radiator, you'll need new coolant of course. Subaru recommends their "green" coolant mixed 50/50 with diluted water, along with a 4 oz bottle of their coolant conditioner. Tip for SOHC 2.5L engines - wait before putting the lower two pulleys on. Put the belt on the crank, then passenger's cam, making sure the marks on the belt line up. Then do the driver's cam, and use a clip to make it stay there while you install the bottom pulleys. Great video on it - [...]

Kit installed just fine and all materials appear to be of original quality or better. However, the plastic spacer for the timing belt guard over the crank sprocket seemed to be too thick. Factory spacing is 0.020-0.060", but the spacer would lock in tight when the guard bolts were tightened. Either this spacer is too thick or the belt itself is thicker than the factory belt. The new timing belt is also humming a bit louder than the old belt, even after 2000 miles. I hope the belt tensioner is not stronger than spec.

Great OEM fit for Subaru Outback 2011 2.5i Limited, with approximately 120K miles in the north east. Specific to the 2011 Outback H4, if you're working on your cooling system, you need to check the fourth digit of your VIN number to figure out if you can use TCK304 kit with the water pump included. If it's "G", you can use that kit, but if it's "B", you'll need to order the Gates 42274 water pump separately. Always a good idea to replace the water pump with this. If you have a local mechanic that will service your car if you provide parts, this is definitely the way to go. In addition to this kit, I picked up the Gates 42274 water pump, Motorad thermostat, Stant thermostat seal, and a pack of four Bosch iridium spark plugs and my mechanic installed for about 4.5 hours of labor (roughly $620). While I was at it, I also picked up Redline 75w-90 synthetic gear oil for the front and rear differentials (along with some special 13mm square and T70 torx sockets). That and a brake flush and I feel pretty confident with keeping my car for another 100K miles. If you’re at the 100-110K mileage mark and you’re not sure you want to keep your car or pay the dealership $1,600-1,800 for the 105K-120K service package, I’d highly suggest the independent mechanic route. Great kit, engine was humming along soon after I picked it up and should be good for the next 105K miles.

This is the second kit I've purchased through Amazon. The first was all OE components minus the belt, which was high quality. This second kit I bought had a lower quality belt and a different cog idler. The cog idler was Chinese made by Taide. The Chinese cog idler looked ok so I installed it. A few days later I saw some grease at the bottom of the timing belt cover so I took it back apart and notice grease was coming out of the cog idler. I first called Gates to inquire about the Chinese bearing failing and they told me that Amazon is not an authorized seller of Gates products. I then called Amazon and they gave me a credit on my account to buy the actual OE cog idler made by NSK. https://www.amazon.com/NSK-W0133-1627915-NSK-Timing-Belt-Idler/dp/B001HMV1I0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466434739&sr=8-1&keywords=nsk+idler

The Kit is right on as far as the fit goes the only iffy thing is the bearing quality i only say that because they were Chinese and lets face it their reputation is pretty Shakey, however they felt tight and firm. But the car sounds great i have 100+ on the kit and no issues. It is a good buy as far as i can tell.

This kit fit my automatic 2006 Subaru Forester single-overhead cam engine perfectly. All the pulleys and tensioner looked just like the originals I removed. One of the 3 pulleys was made in China, the others and the tensioner were Japanese, and I believe the belt is US (or Canada? I forgot now). As others suggested I did not get the kit that includes the water pump, but bought that separately direct from Subaru. Getting the belt back in place over all the pulleys was a bit of a pain, but the rest was pretty normal. You will need a C-clamp or vise big enough to hold the actual tensioner to very slowly cycle the plunger a few times to bleed any air out, there are instructions included for the actual procedure. Some loc-tite was included and instructions on where/how to apply it. There was some sort of plastic spacer tool included that may be needed on manual-transmission models, I didn't need that so I can't say if it does the job or not.

Quality idlers,same as original.Quality belt with timing marks for easy initial setup.Good price (in 2015)

Buen producto, buen material, embonaron a la perfección. Ahora a esperar a ver si duran mínimo los 100 mil kilómetros

Best priced timing belt kit I could find for my Impreza, still holding up well ~30,000KM later, have had no issues with it yet. I've been told to watch for imitation Gates products online, but when I opened the kit, it appeared to be a genuine Gates product.

Es justo lo que necesitaba y el ajuste es perfecto

Exactly as ordered no installation problems