1st Gen Lunchtable Thread - General Discussion

Well I had cingular/AT&T and the nice thing is, when you deploy, you can get your service temporarily suspended right away, and reactivated as soon as you got back to CONUS.

This was nice because I remember texting/calling people while in Maine, and even Germany.

Anyway, that phone served as my 'phone book' as well when I'd be at an Army base and got to use their sat phone's, etc.

Fast forward 7 months, leaving a 3rd world, fucked country, and I'm ready to reactivate my service. Mind you, I came straight to Salinas since my motorcycle was on base, the next day from coming back from Iraq since we got a "72 hour leave"

I'm in uniform, and there I am at AT&T. I plop my sand-ridden old phone and tell them I'd like to activate my suspended service and upgrade my phone.

The lady looks at my phone with disgust, I remember cause she was talking/acting like a shit head, and tells me I can't get an upgraded phone unless I start a new contract/lease etc.

This was around the time when AT&T was trying to get people off their unlimited plan, and I insisted on staying on my plan and getting a new phone because I was due for one!

Couldn't remember if at that point a customer had mentioned I deserve a new phone I fought for our country etc lol

Manager comes out to find out what's going on and I explain the same shit; I need a new phone and I'd like to keep my plan.

He tells me he can't do that, there's no way how and that unfortunately I'd have to pay full retail or something? Full disclosure, I've got a short temper, especially after having come back from Iraq and I'm just like I'D LIKE TO KEEP MY PLAN AND GET A NEW FUCKING PHONE.

Other people then paid attention to what was going on and they started talking shit to the manager/crew. I went on about how long I've had them, since highschool really, and went on about customer service etc and I ended up cursing the manager out the way I'd chew someone's ass out. I remember raising my voice and chewing all their staff out, calling them pieces of shit, etc (I was real belligerent lol) and right then and there said fuck you guys, and paid my $200 or $250 cancellation fee just to prove a point.

Haven't been back with them ever since.

 

my tundra has 2. but they'll be gone next year when the long tubes happen


my avalon has 3.

 

Also the rear cats on the 4.0 are whats solely responsible for the frames rotting through as quick as they do imo. Way too close to the frame rails.

 

they dont help. but its not the only reason. but they really dont help

 

yeah I can imagine all that heat right there would really accelerate the frame rust issue. That sucks. Wonder if you can wrap some heat shielding around it or around that portion of the frame to help protect it

 

Wow. That was something.

 

I don't really have an idea what it's like around you. But Verizon works just about everywhere to at least some degree. T-Mobile just straight-up fucking sucks unless you're in a completely Urban or suburban setting. And I left AT&T cuz their prices were still somehow worse than Verizon.

 

Not the only reason, but a lot of people wouldnt need new frames if the heat source wasnt right there. Seems an otherwise fine looking frame can have bad rust only in that spot.

 

I've been happy with Sprint...decent coverage except in places where you wouldn't really expect to have it anyway. And better prices than ATT/Verizon

 

they look fine on the outside. but after cutting them up i can tell ya the back half of the frame can hide the nasty rot. it builds in the way they layer the metal

 

The way those frames are just ply's of metal riveted together is just plain stupid. Although I see my dads new one has a nice strip of seam sealer to keep moisture from getting between them, unlike his old one.

 

people love these 'little' trucks to death, ain't nothing out there currently to even come close to compare imo
although the dealer used car manager this morning had me thinking otherwise
i played nice ball with him and did not argue it to death as i know i can i been around lol
just humbly took my little piece of paper with their final cash offer and made my way to the service dept. where i really laid into them and gave them an earful of my disgust with their lacking of customer service with a nearly 25 year customer
all i want is to keep my Tacoma in tipTop and now i cannot even trust the Toyota dealer mechanics anymore

 

he is probably like myself
OEM or bust
unless a better quality presents itself

 

taking another gander at this pic
why in the heck is the underside of the bed not coated?
even I had the good sense to have this done to mine

 

Could you before though? Nothing has changed in a while really, dealer mechanics are just regular mechanics hired by the dealer.... @Empty_Lord will even tell you that 75% of the guys he works with he wouldn't trust to put air in a tire correctly.

 

Learned that lesson with the first headgasket job on the 92. Told my dad when he wanted to take it back to them for its eval last week that he shouldnt. It was their screwup that got the truck to where it is now. I wouldnt take a vehicle to a dealer for service unless payments are still being made/warranty is still applicable. Small independent shops ftw.

 

i thought so back 20 years ago
guess i was wrong then too
but back then it was small dealers (mom and pop types) and now just mega corporations consolidating or something around here

i will try to learn more about my truck now that is has come to this
was crawling around underneath trying to wipe off this Wisconsin puddle mud water I picked up that refuses to get washed off with a hose and got personal with the LBJs and how in the hell am i suppose to get those off turned upside down!?

then i noticed I am missing skid plate bolts

 

I actually like the Toyota dealer here. But man I can tell you some horror stories about some of the other dealers. One in particular said my only hope was to get a new engine installed. So I had the car towed to my driveway where it took all of 20 minutes to find the problem and get it running again. Meanwhile I found where they left a hose clamp off of the main fuel hose to the injector rail. So if it had been running, the fuel hose would have soon blown off and sprayed the engine with gasoline.

Really there is only one guy here in town that I trust. I had him do a transmission swap for me before he opened his own shop and the rate was around $130.

Today, his shop only works on British and German cars. I think he charges around $250 per hour and the place is packed.

 

Dealers are fine for routine maintenance, or even large jobs on newer vehicles. But a headgasket or similar job on a 30 year old engine that most techs there have never worked on? No way. A lot of the techs at the dealer that did the work are young dudes straight out of school. They primarily work on new stuff, so when an older vehicle comes in needing a large job done, no wonder it got messed up.

 

90% of the techs I work with will not work on older cars. It’s me and one other guy that does them.