I destroyed my suspension - is Sears trying to screw me?

You guys are great. Best forum I've ever seen!

I've done shocks and struts on it before with a friend, but with this amount of stuff, I'd probably want a hand doing it. The only reason why I took it to Sears was I had them install the tires I got from tire rack, and included with free rotation for life and it is in the same shopping center as my work. So I told them to check out the noises.

I'll take it around and have it checked, and I would like a notch above stock quality. I do take the thing off road occasionally, but shouldn't be doing anymore crazy Death Valley trips. The Production company is paying up to $700 for the repairs, so I'm workin with that too

 

If the rack is leaking obviously you need to start there. What's wrong with your shocks and struts? Are they leaking do they no longer dampen?

Bushings? LCA? UCA? Sway bar? Rack and pinion bushings?

 

I don't see how all those parts would fail at once. It's probably just a tie rod end or a bushing that went bad.

I would never use monroe shocks.

 

That was my first thought, bushings are bad but they didn't quote any bushings... Kinda tells you either the guy who wrote up the quote doesn't know what the hell he's talking about or that shop in general is taking you for a ride.

Either way, I'd find a new shop. It would suck to pay Sears to fix all that crap only to find out the culprit was a bent LCA or a frame tweak.

I also agree with others, if the shocks aren't leaking and are still dampening, why replace them at all. They might have taken a few hits but that doesn't mean they're shot.

 

OP,

You need to take this truck to a reputable collision repair facility or off road shop. You likely bent something that needs to be replaced like maybe an LCA. Forget the BS line Sears is trying to feed you. It's obvious by the list in their quote they don't have a clue. Don't go back there.

 

THanks for all the advice. I'm not taking it back to Sears, instead taking it to a Toyota only service shop that is owned and operated by my girlfriends Dads co-worker or something. Basically known the guy for 20 years, and the shop has nothing but outstanding reviews.

They are going to do a free check and re-check everything. Be interesting to see what they come up with.

 

Great idea!!!!

 

You're getting that nice "Multi" discount though. Hard to pass that up. If you take it elsewhere, it would be worth seeing if they'll match it.

 

alright, so the Toyota only service center got back to me. They told me that the front shocks do need to be replaced without a doubt. He said the rear shocks are old.. but are still holding fine and don't NEED to be replaced, and there is nothing wrong with them.

The Rack and Pinion he said there is a very very small leak, said, "is it fine now? yes. will it be fine for a while? yes. Will it need to be replaced eventually? yes, but nothing to worry about now. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being severe, it is a 3. So holding off on that for now.

Said my power steering fluid was just fine.

Also said he found some missing bolts for the belly pan, and found some light bulbs out that he is going to take care of for free. Gave me the same price on upgrade Bilstein shocks.

So saved a ton of money and got some good shocks in there and get my truck running good again.

Thanks for all the help!

 

So what was making the noises or making it feel 'broken'?

 

glad you got it all taken care of

can we see some of the film your truck was in?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii8rC6CPCvM

 

The driver front shock was completely blown and just running off the spring, and the bushing that connects the shock to the strut was gone, so it was just metal on metal, and the other shock was severely busted too. I don't know the correct wording, but when I would go over bumps or accelerate, I would hear metal clinking and rattling. When I'd make left hand turns, I would hear the wheel rub against the wheel well. Now that it is fixed, no more rub, clanking, and it feels like I'm riding on a cloud.

As for the videos, this is a really short teaser I threw together in about 30 minutes for the episode. I chased motorcycles for 3 days in the Tacoma

https://vimeo.com/37357247

Here is some of the footage of my truck from the trip that did the damage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jttZWjrXWCk