I'm trying to get the black metal bracket over the valve cover off so I can change the valve cover gasket on the drivers side. I removed all the bolts but...

It has a horizontal bolt on the pump side and a vertical one in the head area, meaning that the bracket can't just be pulled off.

Any tricks to getting it off or do I have to remove the steering pump?

 

I just pulled the pump......it was easy enough to do, no big deal at all.

One thing I noticed is that one of the nuts that you remove on that bracket is actually on one of the cylinder head bolts. I wondered if you had to re-torque the head bolts when you re-install that nut.

 

I'm guessing it's the one right behind the pump, seemed to be a lot harder to remove than the others

How does the pump come off?

 

Also, could the car be driven with those 2 brackets removed (driver and passenger side)? What is the reason they are there in the first place?

 

What year Toro are we talking about?

 

1966

 

On my car, the brackets are there for the mounting of the power steering pump on the LH side and the AC compressor & alternator on the RH side. I don't know why you wouldn't want to have those on there. There's only like 3 bolts or something and apart from being pretty tight, they're not difficult to deal with. Loosen the one for the belt tension and pop the belt off then you can take out the others. I don't even remember pulling the whole pump, just moving it so I could pull the bracket. I did this job back in September when I did my valve gaskets and painted everything. It was pretty easy. I just checked my photos.....I did not pull the entire pump to get that bracket off, I just had it loose. There's no tricks, other than being mindful that one of the nuts is on a head bolt.

 

The only reason I would drive it without the brackets is just temporary, so I can do a little at a time, remove brackets, drive to a few cruise nights, then tackle the rest (valve cover gaskets, painting engine, etc.)

 

But you'd have no alternator. Also, I believe the water pump is driven off the same belt as the power steering pump. So, I don't think it's possible to do what you're thinking.