1994 Toyota 4 Runner stripped blot on cranshaft pully

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1994 TOYOTA 4RUNNER
6 CYL
4WD
AUTOMATIC
151,000 MILES

1994 Toyota 4 Runner mileage: 151,000. I took my 4 runner to the Toyota dealer to change the timing belt. It was changed before at 65,000 miles, it now has 151,000 miles. They ran into a problem. There is a pulley, which is bolted onto the crankshaft. They turn the bolt three times and said it should have broken free and been able to hand turn. They said that they can try to cut the bolt off and remove the pulley to see what's going on behind there. But, they said I would most likely need a new engine bottom. Roughly $3,000.00 to 5,000.00 job. Does this sound right?

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It sounds as if the threads that hold the bolt to the bottom pulley on the crankshaft are stripped. When the belt was changed at 65,000 miles it may have been over-tightened, which could damage the threads. What we would do is remove the radiator and the grill to gain clear access to the front of the engine. Then we'd remove the bolt in question. If it broke off, we would drill it out and tap the end of the crankshaft. If the threads were damaged beyond repair, we would drill and tap it out to the next size larger. This would cost considerably less that $3000.00, more like a couple hundred dollars for the extra work.