I know this isn't the first frame thread

They aren't going. The truck is sitting on the lot at the dealership waiting on parts. I expect it will be two months before they actually work on it.

 

Progress, of sorts. I received this email this morning:

Maybe I'll have my truck back by Christmas.

 

Outstanding. You should have your wish.

Good luck with your new frame.

 

Ok, now I need some help. My dealership is trying to screw me and I would like suggestions for courses of action on my part. The dealer has sent me a list of parts that need to be replaced that are not covered by the warranty. The parts boil down to new coil-overs, new rear shocks, a new LSPV, new stabilizer bar, gas tank skid, and assorted other parts. The prices they are charging are higher across the board than the MSRP listed by Camelback. If I bought all the parts from Camelback the total price would be lower by $862. They are also charging an additional parts cost of $300 for "misc". The final insult is that they are charging $610 for additional labor. The total that they want to bite me for is $3943.21.

1) The LSPV is supposed to be included in the warranty according to a document I found online. $262 (my dealer price)
2) Can I run without a gas tank skid? I'm on the road 98% of the time and the skid is $597 (my dealer price)
3) $300 for "misc" seems arbitrary and profit-seeking. Thoughts?
4) $610 for additional labor? According to them all of these parts cannot be removed from the old frame because of rust. Seems to me that reduces labor.
5) The overall parts cost being higher than MSRP. I'm tempted to tell my dealer that I'll order parts from Camelback and have them shipped to my dealer.

 

That's ridiculous. I'm not surprised though...

Show your dealer the document you found, as long as it's an official Toyota document. Then see if they will let you source your own parts (from Camelback). And you can get a gas tank skid from Low Range Off Road for like half that price.

 

Tell them to just do the warranty work and you will take care of the rest yourself.

 

Will they have to have the skid to put the truck back together, or can I tell them to skip it?

Their argument is that the rest of the work has to be done by them because they can't get the old parts off the old frame. So, they *have* to put new coil-overs on to finish. Etc., etc.

 

You need to call a dealership up North (Michigan) and speak to a service manager and ask him about all of this. After you speak to him, then call Toyota Corporate and tell them about the bullshit. You dealer is trying to make a killing off you. That’s insane! That’s over a 1/4 of the blue book price on your truck.

 

When my '01 was done, I asked for certain work to be done while they had everything apart. There was no extra charge for labor already included in the replacement procedure, so the cost was for parts and minor incidental labor since it was outside of that procedure. Other work they recommend was declined and I had that done elsewhere or I did it myself. I paid nothing extra for the incidental broken parts related to their work. They were very good about that stuff, and I believe they factored most of that into the warranty work due to the rusty condition of nearly everything under the truck.

I have heard about owners refusing to pay for anything outside of the warranty work, with one guy saying "if you brake it, you replace it". In his case it worked, and they replaced some extras rather than assume the liability of installing damaged parts.

I think it's easy for us at a distance to tell you how you should handle your replacement. Î felt it was fair to pay for parts and labor outside of the scope of the warranty work, but not for those reasonably expected to be damaged or broken during the process.

 

Tell them to skip it, it won't affect anything with how they put the truck back together.

 

I agree. Unless they are giving you a free gas tank skid, I would not pay for the Toyota POS they will put on. Buy the low range off road skid. It's half the money and ten times better.

 

The skid doesn't have anything to do with holding the tank up?

 

This kind of fits into my previous comment. They must have done enough frame replacements to know these componets can present issues. Did they discuss this with you beforehand? What if you supply the parts for them to install? There are many front suspension options that are better than OEM at lower than OEM prices.

I had already replaced my front and rear suspension within a year before the replacement, so this was not an issue for me. They reinstalled my suspension parts on the new frame.

 

The straps hold the gas tank up. My skid rusted away years ago.

 

I don't think there have been many frame replacements down here. The first dealership I went to hadn't even heard about the warranty extension (so they claimed). The one that is doing the swap claims to have done "one or two" before. "Maybe on a Tundra". I don't think they have enough experience to know what would or would not be a problem.

I didn't think I could talk them into using other than OEM parts, so i didn't try.

 

I emailed them yesterday with a short list of grievances and that I want a meeting with a factory service rep. They agreed to price match parts. Today I've told them I want to see the old parts.

This whole thing smells like "screw the customer". Overpriced parts, unitemized additional parts costs, and unitemized additional labor costs. I forgot to mention that they also told me that the truck needs a new timing belt, water pump & seals, valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, spark plug tube seals, and plug wires. Most of that they can't tell it needs without knowing when it was last replaced, so I read that as them trying to bluff me into spending another $2200 (+tax).

 

I forgot where you were located. Too bad you couldn't have brought it up here. That's not to say dealers here will not try to sell you everything under the sun, but many have done so many replacements that very little can surprise them. And they make so much money on the work.

My dealer has tried to sell me everything from a whole new front suspension and steering rack to new bumpers and corner lights. They will a least install my parts, OEM or not. If they would not, I'd be doing them myself. You just have to say "no thank you", and let your independent shop (that you trust) do the work for half the cost. Or do it yourself.

In the end, you are going to be way ahead with the new frame and related parts. It doesn't necessarily add much value to the truck, but it's sure going to be road worthy longer.

 

The production line that made that frame would have had the tooling pulled off and replaced w/ the jigs and fixtures for the next model year. The jigs and fixtures are there in pieces, but no way to assemble an entire frame from the ground up. Custom would be a nice way of putting it.

Think of even getting the dies back in running order to stamp the parts... get the steel coils ordered. Automotive companies have to keep the tooling for X years due to contracts and all the rules the industry has to follow, but that does not mean they are able to produce a full product off an assembly line.

 

I thought part of the deal with the frame repairs was that any parts that need to be removed and reinstalled can be swapped over for no charge in labor.

Gas Doors sound like they fall outside this criteria and shouldnt be scrutinized.

EDIT: I agree, if they break it, they replace it.