Montana Tacomas

The folks from all the over populated states would probably ask why you didn’t just use your cell phone.

 

Yeah seriously.

 

Not in Bozeman it doesn't...

 

No that’s hippies since Bozeman is the new California with all your new faux rustic building fronts.

 

Sure it does. Just most of them only live there in the summer..

Or they only make it 2-3 years.

 

Not my experience.

These guys stand on corners with signs bellow freezing at times. Bozeman has a "warming center" for homeless. We have a couple soup kitchen places. They have places to live and eat in the winter here.

 

At least we're not like California and have Injection sites.

 

I was gonna say....

Growing up in Portland and working for their parks department I've seen some sh!t!

 

Give it time.

 

Little update. I dropped my truck off at Ressler Motors this morning. They did my collision repairs back in Oct/Nov which included installing new Upper Control Arms, Spindle, and Lower Control arm on the passenger side. The passenger UCA is what tried it's darndest to come off yesterday. The more I've thought about this whole thing the more I seriously feel blessed that it happened when and where it did. We were moving at like 15mph or so. I absolutely cannot imagine what would/could have happened if that UCA bolt had come loose going down Jackrabbit on our way home last night. I just don't want to think about it. Yesterday was the first time my youngest (7yo) moved into a booster seat from a multipoint restraint (she's little).

Anyhow, I briefly explained what happened to a young woman who greeted me in the service bay. She immediately handed me over to the service manager. I told him what happened and he was extremely apologetic. I showed him the truck and the temporary nut we had put in place to keep it assembled. He told me himself that it could have killed someone had that UCA come off on the highway. He immediately assured me that Ressler would take care of getting things fixed, asked me if I needed anything else, etc. Later in the day he informed me that they're ordering a whole new UCA bolt, along with the proper washer and nut. They'll be here on Thursday. Until then I've been provided a brand new Toyota Avalon to drive.

When he brought me my rental car he asked me to go over the chain of events from the date of collision repair up until yesterday. It sounds like there's some finger pointing going on with staff internally (nobody wants to be the fall guy on this I'm sure). Ressler Motors had paid Tom's Alignment to properly align my truck after they gave the truck back to me in November. The alignment job Ressler had done was so bad my tires rubbed on flat ground in normal turns. It took Tom's like 2 hours to get it aligned properly - all the while telling me it was pretty bad. I got the idea from Ben that someone at Ressler wanted to blame Tom's Alignment. I told Ben that made no sense as an alignment tech would have zero reason to adjust/loosen the UCA through bolt as that's not involved in alignment adjustments. He immediately agreed.

I also learned that whomever the tech is that was involved in my truck's repairs was involved in another 'similar' incident with another customer's vehicle. So, I wouldn't be surprised if Ressler is advertising for an opening in their service/repair shop soon. On one hand that makes me feel bad - since I hate seeing anyone lose a job - but if a tech has a history of not properly torquing crucial bolts for such serious components on vehicles someone could seriously get hurt.

 

Got the 90k service + an oil change at Ressler last month. They over filled it by 1/2-3/4 quart. They were also supposed to check all my fluids. Turns out they didn’t even check my intercooler reservoir (I’m SC’d); bone dry. I usually do all these myself but didn’t have the time before a road trip I had planned. I’m probably going to avoid them from now. Hope they get you squared away.

 

After installing my front wheel bearings this morning took it for a test drive and ended up going to Monument lookout. I'm still 2wd but 37s through the mud was cake.

 

Only went there because I wanted Toyota parts post collision.

This isn't my first issue there. So far it appears they're going to handle things.

Years ago I took a 2005 Camry in for a recall notice on a fly wheel. Minutes after dropping it off they called telling me my fan belt was tattered and the water pump was badly leaking. $1,000 in repairs needed. Told then to just replace the fly wheel. Took it to another shop who told me the belt looked new and the water pump had no leak at all. When I talked to their manager he told me there was a miscommunication between the service tech and the service advisor.

Couple years later I take the same car in for an oil change. Two days later I notice a line of oil begins my car in a parking space. Pop the hood and start it up. Oil is streaming out of the oil filter. They apparently put the wrong filter on and the seal on it broke.

Had them put coil springs on my Tacoma. Same OME lift kit they sell. They put the trim packer on the wrong side. Had to have that changed over.

After picking up my truck from colission repair I noticed my brake fluid reservoir was DRY. Called them. They claim they never touched brake lines when replacing the UCAs, Hub, LCAs, Spindle on passenger side. I asked how it could be empty. They suggested I had a brake line leak and that I should take it somewhere to be checked. I topped off the brake fluid and it hasn't gone down since December.

 

Wow that place sounds like a nightmare to deal with.

 

Just got word from Red River ranger station that Magruder is still closed because of snow. I also talked to a ranger at the Lochsa Ranger District who said Lolo Motorway is stilled closed for snow.

Had planned to be in the area on Mon 7/1 for 12 days all off-road. I'm on hold until I hear the national forest roads are open.

Any additional information from the locals here would be greatly appreciated.

Question: After they open the roads how much time should I give to allow everything to stabilize and dry a bit?

Thank you, Mark

 

Interesting, so they won't OPEN the roads til they're dry, makes sense.

August is still doable for me.

How soon after everything dries out do the fires start?

Out of curiosity, when do you think Lolo and Magruder get their first snows after Summer?