2014 Toyota Tacoma UJoint Replacement Experience

Well thought I would pass along my experience with the local Toyota dealership. A couple weeks ago I had my oil changed, tires rotated and had the truck inspected. About a week ago I noticed a bit of a shake going on while traveling down the road and though maybe one of my tires was out of balance or I needed an alignment. Yesterday it got a bit noisey and was shaking pretty good so took it in and I thought personally that it was a ujoint (universal joint) or something similar. After they checked it out, he came to me and said "You nailed it on the head. You have a bad universal joint. There are 3 on the truck. We recommend changing them all". I said "Okay how much?" He said "About $700". I nearly fainted. I thought well must be some kind of special tools or parts only these guys have, so reluctantly I said Ok. They gave me a rental to drive while they worked on it. He called later in the day and said they had replaced the ujoints but after taking it down the road it still had a bit of a wobble in it. They said it had a bent driveshaft. I couldn't believe it ! I said "Look I only use the truck for traveling. I haven't abused it or anything. How in the world could the driveshaft be bent?" He never really answered the question. He said he knew a guy that straightens them for $70 because the cost of a new one would be $1500. So he takes it and they straighten it. I just got back from the dealership $870.00 to change 3 ujoints and straighten the driveshaft. They charged $80.86 a piece for the ujoints (242.58 total). Close to $500 in labor. The rest was tax, etc. I was about to go off bigtime at the dealership but decided to take the high road and leave before I got sent to jail. I did tell him that price was ridiculous for changing 3 ujoints and straightening the driveshaft which mysteriously got bent somehow.

After asking around and watching videos on Tacoma ujoint replacement, I see I could have done it myself. Not as easy as they did it, but I could have. Lesson learned. Let the bashing begin.

P.S. I Called The Toyota Customer Number to vent some-more and told them the same thing. The lady was really polite and apologized. (Of course there's still this empty space in my wallet)She also sent me a $200 credit to use on any future service/parts. It's better than nothing so I'll take it. Hope your day was better.

P.S.S The Toyota dealership called me and we had a chat and they sent me a check for $192. They said they shouldn't have charged me for the driveshaft straightening and took some labor off as well. I'll know better next time.

Once I use up the $200 credit I won't be taking my truck there for anything if I can avoid it.

 

870 bucks for 3 u joints? I would've told them to go fly a kite.
And for future reference an alignment might cause a shake if it chews your tires bad enough but it's not going to fix it. A lot of people think the alignment is the magical cure for shakes. It's not.

 

Maybe an hour job total at around a hundred bucks an hour labor. They probably bent it on you too when they put in in the vise, that's a huge rip off . You could have found a driveline shop they would have gotten you for a 100 to 150 tops if you brought them the shafts with parts and labor. SMH Aren't u joints part of the 5 year , 60,000 mile warranty powertrain warranty?

 

Had my u joints replaced a few years back for $425 at a local mechanic. That was after the toyota dealership wanted $2,000 for a new drive shaft! No thanks!

 

That's ridiculous I had one of my u-joints done a couple years ago at a local shop because it start clicking on me and it was only $130. Cant trust the stealership as far as you can throw them.

 

That's the first time I've ever heard of a Toyota dealership changing out u joints, every dealership that i know of would always just replace the entire driveshaft for the lack of the shop's tools/experience of balancing the drive shaft after replacing u joints..

By the way you can buy a brand new drive shaft from Toyota online for around $600-$650..

 

I see your truck is a 2014, are you over 60,000 miles on it? Because it has a 5year/60,000 mile power train warranty, which would cover a new driveshaft..

 

I have replaced hundreds of universal joints and have NEVER had to balance one afterwards...

They didn't bend or straighten the drive shaft either, not with a vice. OP You been screwed...

 

Tell them you have a "friend" that has the same problem after replacing U joints, and you would like to know the name of the company that "straightens" driveshafts. Then go to that company and ask them about recently straightening your driveshaft.

 

I have 113,000+ on it. I travel alot. It'a out of warranty. But it's highway miles. I agree with everything you said above. They just kind of caught me. I thought there must be some kind of parts/tools only Toyota has to fix this thing with but like I said, lesson learned.

 

Ahhh...good idea. Thanks.

 

You could have replaced the 2 piece drive shaft with a one piece unit from Tom Woods with a CV for about $500. No more vihe's ever with any lift.

 

Dealer just replaced my drive shaft, joints and center bearing under warranty. 2013 with 50k miles. Not, my account light begin blinking