I'm going to need to ask before I get into this, how hard is it really? I have the belt in the cab to do it right now, but want to know how complicated it is before I get into it.

 

It's actually one of the easier engines to change the belt on. Things are pretty easy to get to. Plan on a few hours to be safe.

 

Ok, that should be pretty easy I think. thanks for the info. the manual was and still is kinda sketchy on this subject.

 

Sounds like you have a Haynes manual. They like to skip or gloss over a lot of info.

Check this out:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=107538

Click on "2.3 Timing belt" and it will open in Word. Good info there.

 

From what I saw, I'll have to pull the water pump to remove one of the bolts to remove the cover on the timing belt, the rest of it looks pretty straightforward though.

 

No, you shouldn't have to remove the water pump. You only need to remove the outer timing cover, and to do that you might need to remove the water pump pully, but not the pump itself.

 

the pump itself, has a particular fitting on the top of it, that obstructs my access to the screw to remove the belt cover, whcih is why I think it needs to be removed to access the bolt holding the cover on to remove it.