Concern or coincidence?

So I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the locker anytime mod, tested on my drive way and no problems worked like a charm.

About a week after that stopped at a buddy's house after work to show off what I did and he talked me into going out on the field, nothing bad a little muddy but turned the locker on and went right thru did a couple cookies (I'm younger) so it was fun, and left the field was out for a total of 2 minutes.

On my way home about 10 miles down the road I notice my truck is feeling funny. Stopped at stop sign proceeded and my transmission starts to slip. Now I'm thinking I really messed up.. Drove it to work next morning and was planning on heading to dealer right after work which is only 2 miles away, then my check engine light comes on. Made it to the dealer and told them in was in a field and had a little fun then this crap happened he said leave it here and we will find out..

So they called me today and told me transmission needs to be replaced several solenoids were "frozen" and warranty will cover it. Put a smile on my face

Now for the question concern or coincidence? Should I be fine to use my locker anytime mod when I get her back or put it back to stock? I can't imagine that was the cause because the field was wet and a little muddy, I didn't hit any bumps, logs, rocks, etc. oh and btw the manager of service department is who I first talked to and he said a little FYI don't mention the "fun" you had the day before.

Anyways any input or thoughts would greatly be appreciated

 

Its seems too many treat their trucks like atv's.

If you want it to last save the donuts in the mud for the atv not your nice truck.

With the being said it sounds like it was bound to happen but maybe the bumping in the mud just made it happen sooner.

If anything you where lucky it was under warranty.

 

Nope didnt hit the brakes at all really just rolled to a stop. And I hardly ever take my truck off road it's usually just on gravel logging roads when hunting or hiking. Just thought I would get a feeler out there and see if anyone else experienced these problems, of and the some what scary thing is that my truck only has 57,000 miles on it...

 

Believe it was just its time to go. And for future reference don't tell Toyota you where playing in it when a problems starts. They may try and give you hard time. Sounds to me the tranny was going out. Donuts in a field should not have hurt anything.

 

This.

 

locker is for 5mph or under, to escape the muddy road. ONLY

now... after saying what toyota puts on the sticker, it can be used
at any speed, as the warning is about steering being difficult, not speed
damaging anything...

tranny was due, not the locker mod whatsoever


thing is, these trannies last forever on 3 quart and filter changes, so what happened to yours
in such low miles is very uncommon

 

Thanks for the input guys, I talke to toyota today and they told me its very uncommon and turns out the guy who first had the vehicle traded it in for a tundra jus so he could tow more. Makes me think that the first 30,000 miles of its life was all towing and possible way to much weight.. Anyways just glad it's all covered under warranty

 

Yea I'd say she may have towed a lot in her day. Least there fixing it

 

I don't buy into the 5mph thing. haha. I have personally engaged mine while doing up to 20 mph and have ran with it locked as high as 50 mph.

Toyota has it set up so you can only engage the locker while in 4lo and then they tell you to only use the locker if you are stuck. Obviously if you are stuck you are spinning your tires. If you are spinning the tires at speeds in excess of 5 mph, and try to engage the locker, it will engage and cause a lot of jarring on your drive train when that other axle is now spinning. That could easily cause damage.

If you are driving straight down the road, or at least not turning excessively sharp, then both rear tires are moving (instead of one spinning and one stopped in the case of being stuck) and there is very little, to no strain put on the drive train when you engage the locker.

Obviously I wouldn't be flying down the freeway and try to engage the locker (or 4wd for that matter), but I have engaged and disengaged mine several times while driving between 10 and 20 mph with no problems.

I also don't think that the playing should have hurt the tranny that severely in that short of time, unless maybe your tranny cooler was plugged up with mud or something prior to you even playing, but even then I think it would be hard to overheat it in that short of a time period.

 

BradyT88, isn't your truck on its 3rd rear end?

 

Yes but those are unrelated to the locker.

I had never even used the locker when the first one went out, had the Taco for about 2 months was all. Was at a stop on pavement and punched it and the ring and pinion in the diff stripped themselves.

The 2nd one was a bad install and the pinion bearing started whining pretty bad.

I was on 4.88's (so 3rd diff) when I did my anytime locker mod and have since learned that is it relatively safe to engage the locker faster than 5 mph. I used to be really cautious about the 5 mph rule.

Basically just don't engage your locker or 4wd when your tires are spinning. If you tires are spinning then follow Toyota's advice of only engaging the locker below 5 mph.

 

I just thought I'd ask, I thought I remembered reading your thread about that a while back. How's the gas mileage with the new setup?

 

With the winter blend, I have been down to about 14-15 mpg. With the summer blend I still sit around 16-17 mph, so I only lost about 1 mpg with the gears. Not really sure what the 33's cost me in mileage though. Didn't keep track of it too well prior to getting them.

 

That's actually a lot better than I thought it would be.

 

LOL, "burn in" for a new truck. But yeah the truck should be able to take donuts in the mud (or even on dry pavement) without fail.

X2. The dealer can get anal and refuse to cover any defects developed as a result of off-roading. For engine/drivetrain related problems, I would go as far as wash off all the dirt and mud under the truck before taking it in.

 

Bumping in the mud breaking our trucks? I don't think so.. Like the OP does a couple donuts.. In the dirt your truck should definitely be able to take that! A van could handle that haha.

As far as your tranny messing up.. I'd say it must have just been weak from the get go and you just set it off. Its probably a good thing that you put some strain on it so that it went while you still had warranty. Don't let it discourage you

x3

 

Well I almost messed up when I first brought my truck to then I told the manager of the service department that I was playing in a field.. This is my first vehicle ever bought from a dealer and I just wanted to be honest with them after all it is a "TRD off road" and if it can't take a few cookies then I would be throwing a fit at the dealer..

But all in all he said leave that little detail out next time and I even ended up getting a rental truck til mine is done which made me a happy customer.

 

^You were lucky this particular dealer's service manager was accommodating. From what I've read, Toyota reimburses dealers at a lower rate for warranty repairs than the normal dealer rate. The dealer therefore has an incentive to deny warranty if they think they can convince you to pay out of pocket.

 

Just curious. Did you leave the truck in drive as opposed to say 1 when you did the "cookies" and spun the tires in the mud?

 

Ya I was in drive the whole time.