Something loose or engine trouble?

Looks like a little mud.

 

#mudbutt

 

I'll go back to AZ and you can help me clean it out!

 

Let us know if the sound persists when you clean the mud out, hopefully it will stop.
As for taking it to the dealer, in the future you may want to CYA by removing any evidence that you took it off road. Firstly, that may be a simple solution to your problem, but mainly if they see that you took it off road, I have heard of them making a note in your truck's record that you are doing so which can hurt you in the future if you ever want some warranty work done - just don't give them any unnecessary ammunition to use against you.

Good luck!

 

now they'll charge you labor for "taking it off road"

 

Solid advice and very accurate.
I am in the ATV/Boat repair industry and had a customer with a two month old 4 wheeler come in with rear diff failure. Guy didn't even attempt to wash it beforehand. You could honestly not even see the diff due to the mud. Not only did we deny warranty, we charged him to wash his bike so we could repair it, and yes, it was noted that machine was taken through more than suggested activities, and his complete warranty was voided.
Moral of the story, make it look like you take care of your stuff before bringing it in for warranty work and you will have a better experience.

 

Toyota markets and sells TRD Off Road equipped trucks then refuses to warranty them when used "off road." I'm sure it's in the fine print somewhere that Toyota won't actually bear responsibility for any issue caused by taking the truck off pavement but it sure reeks of steaming cow manure to me.

 

So if you can't take your four wheeler off road without voiding the warranty, where the F can you take it? Corporate thieves strike again

 

I absolutely agree, it's manure, but you've gotta play their game to come out ahead in this situation.

 

It wasn't that he took it off road, it was the fact that he buried it in the mud over the diff breather and even up to the engine air filter. Had he washed it all off and changed the diff fluid before bringing it to us, he would have been all o.k.

 

No charge from the dealer. Great customer service, kept me posted throughout the day. And some good advice and lessons learned from this thread. Just drove the truck and didn't have the grinding whatsoever. Great day! Now to tell the wife we need a pressure washer.

I did attempt to clean it with a garden hose before I brought it in, but obviously missed some spots. Damn AZ mud was thick and sticky.

 

Yea, you'd think that they would at least cover things that would occur on a reasonable off-road excursion. But, I'm sure the problem turns into defining "reasonable". Some guys would take it in a 4ft deep mud hole and call that reasonable.

Sounds like OPs dealership took care of him, so thats nice.

@Dudeman86 Did they say what was causing the noise? I get that it had mud in there, but mud doesn't make noise on its own.

 

Based on the pictures they sent me, looks like mud and rocks were wedged between the skid plate and exhaust. I have RCI skid plates and did not do the exhaust reroute. There is a very narrow gap between the two. But they pressure washed the whole undercarriage, so I can't say for certain it was that spot.

 

Nice to see when both the dealer and customer keep thier cool. So often people bash on the dealer or the dealer gets huffy or charges for every little thing.

 

Toyota of Orange. I was fully expecting to pay for the car wash too. Would not have argued over it.

 

Here is a pic from the trip. Truck isn't terribly muddy, which is why I was surprised to see so much caught in the skid plate.

 

You have your answer.

 

Well.....yeah.... that does seem a bit excessive...