First time truck owner

Why wouldn’t you let the dealer service your new truck? Aren’t they literally trained to do it? And all the new trucks come with 2 years of maintenance so why go outside the dealership and pay extra? I would go to them for the first 2 years then go to ann independent shop afterwards.

 

I was going to ask the same.
A new truck should be serviced by the dealer.
They are the ones who would handle warranty and TSB issues.
As soon as a third party mechanic is involved, you may be involved in a dispute about that service outside of Toyota authorized service agents. I am lucky enough to have a local dealer I trust and has provided transparent and professional service. (For both my prior 1997 and this newer 2021).

 

I saw this on the maintenance schedule and wondered why they want you to do it so often. I cant recall having a car where they suggested you do it more often than changing the oil. The manufacturers of most of the tires I’ve bought recommend rotations at least every 10k. I tend to do every other oil change.

What’s up with this?

 

Could be they realize tires just ain't what they used to be.
Or they figure Tacoma owners work their trucks.
Or perhaps someone smarter than me figured it works best.

I got 44,000 miles out of my wife's OEM tires on her Subaru following 5,000 rotations.
Put some Wildpeaks on it and liked 'em so much I bought a set for the Tacoma.

The Firestone OEM tires that came with the Truck lasted 15,000 miles with the rotations.
I put Wildpeaks on and will continue my 5,000 mile oil change and tire rotation.

Simple inexpensive maintenance can mean the difference with any vehicle.... so I do it and sleep well.

 

I've heard too many horror stories of missing oil-caps, or incorrect fluid levels after a dealer let their new-hire handle the work.

My neighbor's kid across the street, straight out of high school and zero clue about cars ( darn good kid mind you ) was hired
on-the-spot to be the number-1-oil-change-person at a local auto-dealer. That's who is changing the life-blood of your vehicle.
Couple that with constant pressure to have unneeded items replaced or outright lies about a nonexistent issue with sky-high
quotes is another reason.

My independent subaru dude lives and breaths subaru. He and his crew of folks ( the same dudes mind you ) have been the
same crew for the last 7 years that I have been going there. I know 'em all. They know me. They know the car. They do daum
good work at very reasonable prices. I tip the dudes on every visit.... they take care of me.

Visit a dealer and spy the oil-change-crew.... I got a crisp $1.00 that says in a month there will be a different crew back there.

My independent Toyota dudes are similar to the Subaru folks - they know me, I know them, we chew the fat, they do good or better
work than the dealer for at least half the price.... and they do it right.

Dealers are into the bottom line and year-end-bonus. Independent dudes want you to be happy.

My thoughts are not directed at ALL dealers, it just seems to be the norm.

What really irked me was I went in for one of those 'free' oil-changes and they wouldn't do it - told me that I had to wait
for 10,000 miles. I wanted it at 5,000 miles. It's my truck, the 'free' oil-changes belong to me right?.... I should be able
to use them whenever I want but they wouldn't do it. I've never been back.

 

I’ve always brought my vehicle back to the dealer for its maintenance and haven’t had a bad experience yet in the last 30 years of owning vehicles. Maybe I’m just lucky? My last vehicle was out of warranty and they still replaced a faulty infotainment system no charge with a good faith request to the company. I treat my service departments right and feel like they treat me right in return. People are people at the end of the day no matter where you go.

In response to some of the other suggestions here. I won’t be modifying anything huge for a while. No lift kit, the air dam will stay in place for the time being.

I love the suggestion on the cooler for camping. I’d been looking at a solution like this for a while and now that I have a truck, it feels more appropriate to do something like that now. I assume running something like that on the trucks battery won’t last long so a separate power alternative would be the way to go for me.

I DO keep hearing that people are more comfortable doing oil changes every 5k rather than 10k and that seems like a reasonable suggestion. How much are the oil changes that are coming out of pocket for those doing it? My last vehicle, I think they were in the $115 range for oil change and tire rotations and then they would assess filters and such.

All in all, I really love this truck. I don’t think I’ve been in love with a vehicle since my Honda Element. I just want to drive it all the time.

Eventually I’d love to tow a small trailer for going camping. I notice a lot of people do a pop up style tent on the bed of their truck and don’t see a lot of people towing. We don’t need much and I know the Tacoma would easily tow a teardrop trailer like a t@g. What are some other trailers that people are towing out there that might be a little bigger than that?

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/towing.34/

 

I tow a Jayco 184BH. It will get 15 mpg @ 60mph, but it's hard to keep the speed that low.

 

We have a small camper by an outfit called Runaway Campers. We're small people so it works for us.
We are entertaining thoughts on the 13ft scamp lite.

The Dometic runs off of 12v off of the battery when the truck is turned on. We had to rig another 12v outlet to the battery
as the standard 12v drives the electric brakes on the camper. Then when the truck is turned off it switches over to the Jackery Solar unit.

We can run the Dometic for 5 days with this setup. Worst case scenario is whipping out the solar panels to re-charge the Jackery, and/or if
available shore-power ( ie: electricity ) will recharge the jackery in about an hour. Takes 5-6 hours off of solar which isn't bad.

Upside to this thing is no ice... and during holidays the Dometic acts like a small mini-fridge in the house. The Jackery acts as emergency
power for lamps and phone charging and laptop charging when the power goes out.

Truth be told I could survive for months with this setup all I'd need is clean water ( ie: Berkey Water Filter which I have ), a few propane
canisters to cook with, and dry-goods.





Inside the camper we use this Goal Zero to power (12v) my CPAP Machine, and to power inner and outer lights. In this image
I'm re-charging via solar panels outside just to time it. It also has a few USB Ports, as you can see the 12v plug, and 2 other
inputs for like a lamp or something.




We are by no stretch of the imagination 'preppers'. We just like to go camping and
want some resemblance to 'comfort' when we go.

 

My 2nd gen Tacoma would wear the front tires a lot faster than the rear and if you skipped the rotations it would show. Granted this was while I still had the front sway bar installed. Once I removed the sway bar, it didnt wear the front tires so bad.

I am imagining that this 4th gen will do the same thing based on how good it handles the corners. I'm still waiting for someone to test out sway bar removal on the 4G

I'd follow the manual on the tire rotations...

For dealer service and oil changes- I check the fluid levels and caps in the parking lot sometimes right in front of them.

I had a oil change once where they didnt put any oil back in my motor and when I thought that would be a once in a lifetime event, I had it happen again.

Never trust anyone with these things- always check.