Wisconsin Tacomas and bad financial advice

Yeah, I'm hesitant to bring my 2015 in. It's holding up pretty well with FF, and I'm worried the undercoating while thrash my frame. But you lose warranty protection if you don't get undercoated...

 

i guess show them that picture of what can possibly happen after time and go from there
it would be nice to know if your year truck has the same type of factory frame paint/coating that the 1st gens have, it just seems the chemicals seep right through and creep underneath it all

 

I don't ever expect much understanding from a dealer. Anyone have a dealer they recommend in the Milwaukee area?

 

I bought my 4runner at Wilde Toyota, and have had mostly good experiences there. I would go there for warranty work. They have a nice waiting area and lots of cars to gawk at.

 

I'd suggest finding a quality independent shop if you plan on keeping vehicles long term.

I can speak to one, but it's in Hartland, about 30 minutes west of MKE

 

Id recommend investing in some tools. Most stuff is fairly easy DIY and you don’t gotta worry about corners getting cut.

my 17 Tacoma went to the dealer for the 2 free services but I’ve done everything else myself. Tundra has never been to the dealer. In most cases it’s quicker than the time spent driving and waiting and driving again.

 

they are 'supposed' to know your vehicle inside and out!
i try to keep my Toyota a Toyota as best i can, they have been locally slacking on me anyways for awhile now since the new management/ownership
that is just how i feel
others feelings may be different

i recently bot a sorta snazzy air compressor, i guess i am headed in the right direction although i prefer hand tools to air tools
need a flare nut wrench combo next!
holding out for the secret TW santa

 

I do nearly everything by hand. If you buy the proper tools, you really don’t need power tools (unless you are a pro doing stuff all day every day). Sure it can make things a little faster but it also ups your chances of rounding something off or stripping it out if you aren’t paying attention.

 

i take my wheels off by hand if i have too, i cringe at the DT with their power tools that they are going to snap something off
the compressor was mainly to run the blasting gun, it works fairly well except for the huge amount of water vapor it spews out

so if anybody needs anything blasted i can 'probably' get that done for you!

 

Time to open GQs frame fixin? You are basically a pro now!

 

I do all my own work. It's just I have to take the truck to the dealer for the recall to keep warranty coverage on the frame. I'm not looking to get a lot of work done. Never hurts to know a good shop but I don't even like to have a shop change my oil!

 

what is the most 'major' work you have had to do yourself so far?

 

it is an adventure so far, but time consuming as all heck
the best part is glazing the fresh naked steel with a fine coat of the acid zinc phosphate stuff and making it all silvery

 

I had a couple oil changes at the dealer but stopped that after I found out they were severely over torquing everything. It was so bad I couldn’t get the drain plug out of the canister with a 18” breaker bar... eventually came loose and I’m still amazed that plastic held it being that tight - the torque spec is 10 ft lbs, it was easily 10x that. The canister spec is 20 ft lbs and it was well beyond that too...

 

Honestly if you keep up on the fluid film, you’ll be fine. The dealer coating will probably cause more issues than it’ll help... any truck I’ve seen that’s done FF, still looks brand new underneath.

 

its just that stuff is such a sticky icky mess after awhile from my recent experimentation
if it matters to you that is, having to crawl underneath with it glazing your hair and clothes can be undesirable

 

here, I solved your problem for $10

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The lack of a flat surface and garage.. and the really steep driveway make some basic things a pain in the ass... It's very convenient for me to take my truck to the Honda service center. Yes they have all my Tacoma/Toyota parts. Because I schedule and they stop at Toyota and grab the parts, no mark up. I know because I've gotten Toyotas pricing. But I've been doing the smaller projects myself so eventually I'll be able to do more!

Our local Toyota dealer is an idiot. A guy told me he had 30+ years working at Toyota and drives a tundra has NEVER heard of my tailgate key. It didn't exist. He argued that for 2 hours. And they didn't have a record of when the cut it for me before. But the blank didn't exist. He proceeded to take the fob key out and test all the doors..... Then try every single angle possible to use it in the tailgate after I told him I tried that and it didn't work(before I got the new key cut).. as I stood there with arms crossed.

Finally they found the blank for the key but said it would cost about $250 parts and labor to replace the lock cylinder and take off the tailgate. And we'll about 3 hours later he brought back the cut key.....

I may look young but I do pay attention to my truck. He ate his words.

Oh and that's only one of the obnoxious experiences I've had. There's been several. Including trying to buy the truck. I went to the used lot, said I wanted a Tacoma and the guy said what's your price range I said "if I want it I'll get it" I know not to tell them your price range. Anyways word for word "the budget lot is across the street" then walked away and no one helped me. So I left. And paid in full somewhere else... (Both Madison dealerships were useless at least the other one tried to sell me a Tacoma I didn't want)..

 

it barely snowed an inch 3 days ago, now the temps headed back to the 50s
but the ground was so warm still that the first snow flakes melted and then glazed the streets with a thin ice cover when the temps dropped into the teens
it has not warmed up enough to melt the residential areas that are in the shade still, not all the leaves have fallen

i think the heavy spots for snow so far have been under and east of Lake Michigan and Superior or maybe Huron into Michigan and Ohio and that big windy town in IL possibly, its just what i heard on the local news

 

With 2015? Not much. Mostly mods, I guess probably redoing the suspension? The only reason I'm looking for a dealer is because I'm required to get the undercoating to maintain warranty on the frame


With the '68 mustang I'm currently installing a 5 speed manual where the 3 speed auto used to sit...

I'll have to talk to the dealer. Hopefully they'll let me get away with not putting the crc on and still maintain coverage of the frame of it needs replacement. I just don't want to be SOL of they decide to replace rotten frames that they "fixed" now