Praying my warranty covers it

Yikes. How many miles ? Dealer serviced ?

 

Probably not the best idea to go through legal channels after sharing your concern about the true cause of the issue on an internet forum. You may find yourself facing charges of fraud.

 

Wow, you could not be more wrong! Dealer says "sorry" and cites what many people would consider pretty extreme mods. The burden of proof will be on the truck owner and that will be a hard sell given that they modified the truck well beyond it's original specs. As I said, good luck brother!

 

Pretty extreme mods? did you see his truck 3" front 2" rear his wheels are 6.7% larger than stock 2" larger diameter wise than stock. I would say under 10% is less than "pretty extreme" more along the lines slightly modified

 

How much trail damage do you have? A clean mall crawler will have a better chance vs a beat overlander rig

 

what happens when someone else is praying NOT to get covered?

 

It is part of the mod game. And why I don’t mod cars anymore.

In 2004 I spun a rod bearing in my Trans Am. It was under warranty. But had a big cam and a bunch of bolt on mods. Plus it happened on a road course. While towing it home my buddy asked if I was going to demod it to get it covered. After a short thought I said I think that would be fraud, I’m paying for this. And I did. It hurt.

But if you are going to play, you have to be willing to pay. I am no longer willing to pay.

 

Lets start with the basics. Check for chewed wires or any signs of rodent activity.

 

If it were mine, I would absolutely take the truck to a good and recommended trans shop and have them look at it before you make any decisions.

 

so much for being reliable, atleast your truck looks cool i guess, gl op

 

Like I mentioned here before do not lift or do any big modification till all waranties are over or face the battle with Toyota not covering it. just saying.

 

tons of people on this site have lifts and bigger tires. the amount of low mile transmission failures is probably in the same consistency range as those who choose to stay stock

 

^^This. Once you get past dealership management and Toyota corporate, the cost to file a Mag-Moss violation claim in Federal court will quickly exceed whatever your recovery would be on the warranty claim....probably on the first retainer check you write your attorney. I believe the Toyota warranty also has an arbitration clause, so your case would not be decided in court, but rather in binding arbitration. The arbitration itself is costly.

As others have said, mods are pay to play, which is why with the exception of my tonneau cover, anything I've added to the truck has been OEM.

 

But why? If you are going to modify it after the warranty runs out...you will still be paying to fix anything that breaks due to the modifications. I'd much rather mod it, be honest with the dealer/Toyota, and see what happens. If they decide to cover any damage, it isn't fraud if they are aware of all modifications. Now don't break it on a trail and then take a lift off and put stock tires on it before taking it in and telling them it broke on the highway...that's fraud.

I told my dealer exactly what I was doing before I even bought the truck. They verbally said that what I was doing should not void a powertrain warranty but wouldn't put that in writing. I accepted that risk. Like said before, establish that relationship. Send them customers. Give them business. It may help, it may not...but what do you have to lose??

As for the OP, let the system work. If they blame the tires (since the lift has negligible affect on the drivetrain) ask for reasoning. Be calm and collected. Don't threaten legal action...that service writer doesn't give two shits if you try to sue the dealer or Toyota. Worst case scenario, you can get a low mileage (less than 20k) transmission used for less than $1000. Couple cases of beer and a couple friends and you can have it swapped out. Much cheaper than any lawyer cost! Best of luck to ya.

 

I don't care if the dealer is your best friend, brother,cousin etc etc he is not the one that decides what can be fixed. Toyota does as they pay it or you pay it. The only benefit of the dealer is that he will get the job either way just saying.

 

My experiences with this sort of thing indicate it will fall to how much the dealer wants to fight for you, or conversely how much they want to put it to you.

If you have a good relationship with a dealer you'd be amazed at how these types of problems can be covered.

Someone pointed out that dealers themselves modify and sell trucks with bigger wheels and tires. How are they covered under warranty? Well...I guarantee they are and it's not even an issue. Same thing of an employee's kid has a modified truck, I'm sure. The issue for the OP is the dealer already flagged this to have an adjuster look at it...so now you've got a second level guy involved that may be being called in because the dealer flagged this as a repair that may be disallowed. Somehow with repeat customers and friends, that likely doesn't happen. Just sayin.

Bottom line....relationships matter. Been that way since the beginning.

 

Our trucks have a ~6500lb towing rating...realistically, how much damage can an extra couple hundred pounds of tire do compared to what towing that much weight will do? But of course they'll blame it on the bigger tires so you'll be the one to pay the bill instead of them.

My buddy was having tranny issues on his F150 a few months back. Ended up being his torque converter, but at that point they had already completely disassembled his tranny and he had to buy a whole new transmission as it was going to cost more to reassemble the old one. Ford denied his warranty because of his 35's...even though that's what the Raptor comes with stock with the same drivetrain.

 

I have been dealing with the same dealer for 30 years and I am like family. They have bent backwards on some little issues but when it comes to the big stuff they usually have to go through Toyota and that is where the red tape not the dealer. They do try their best but in the end Toyota has the last word.

 

does not matter, mods are mods. Everyone knows they void the warranty, OP notwithstanding

 

Genuine question: how would a lift affect a transmission?