Was my 09 TSB done right?

I would think the dealers would do a better alignment than a place like Firestone. At this point it's more about principle then actual issues with your truck, and you're right it's not worth the hassle to fight over a $50 alignment. The TSB clearly states the rear leaf spring requires a 4 leaf pack on the rear for a TRD model done with toe in alignment. Shelling the $50 out of your pocket to do the alignment is nonsense. At this point I'd probably just say F it if your truck is riding fine. I don't think you'll have any issues down the raod. This goes back to why are the dealers being so difficult in regards to the rear TSB.

 

Sigh... They played the Toyota card again -- told me that Toyota rep. said only perform alignment for TSB with shock change. I already called Toyota 1-800 and see what they say.

Anyways, I think like FL4x4Taco said: they are just being cheap. Do you think dealers do a better alignment job than other garage like Firestone? If not, in the end, I'm not sure I wanna go through another fight for a $50 front wheel alignment... OK, I admit I'm a push-over.

 

Probably either a lazy or busy tech. Me and one of the other techs usually just do alignments if theres ANY dought in our mind cause we don't want come back but some guys just blow it off to get it outta their hands faster. Less time on one truck=more time to make more money. To your question about whether dealers are any better than any other shop for an alignment, most cases not really. Its all about the individual tech doing it.

 

I understand your point. I felt being mistreated too. I did get my concern up to the case manager who proved my TSB when I call the 1-800 number.

However the job is done with a dealer two hours away from my city. Ok, that's probably a bad move. I don't think I can travel there for the alignment again. The best result I can get at this point is probably having a local dealer re-align my truck but the case manager have to pull some strings for this, I guess. Me going directly to a local dealer who did perform the TSB -- I don't I can get anything.

 

Yes I checked the TSB after you posted the stuff too. I actually did mention it to the dealer when I was there. But they played the "TSB doesn't apply to 09" and "Toyota said no" cards again, like knee-jerk relex, hehe.

And this dealer actually is better than the other local dealers I tried. Maybe Toyota did play it cheap too b/c of the bad economy. Maybe it is them who made it such a hassle hoping to make people cave.

It is a principle problem so I don't want to give up easy ... We'll see how that played out when I talked to the case manager. After all, they are the ones really want to "close the case". What I meant was that I just won't fight as hard as the TSB.

 

You got it, man. It is "Bob" who have 30-year experience said no need for alignment. LOL. I can even picture the guy in my head.

The problem I think for a dealership is that it is a big entity. Service department is just part of them. Unlike other garages, I guess they don't care their reputation as much. After all, they won't starve as long as the sales department keeps moving cars. They also have warranty, CPO related work anyways.

The sad part is alignment is the one thing you cannot DIY because of the equiment it requirement. After all these s**t, what I learned is that the meaning of DIY is not only about saving money, but to put your truck in the hands of who cares the most, your own hands...

 

I'm a "member" now, not a "junior" member anymore.

Yeah~~~

 

Thats pretty much it, some dealers will take better care of retuning long time customers though. I NEVER let anyone else touch my car or my jeep. Lol I couldn't imagine how I'll be when I get my truck. Good thing is I'm the guy I'd have to bring it to anyways. Lol If you have the tools and know how DIY is the only way to go. I had a guy come to me with a check engine light on in a matrix the other day and all it needed was a new gas cap, $25. The guys bill was $118 after labor. He could've went to advanced and got them to check his light and did some research and when and put the new gas cap on himself.

 

Heck I know this is way wrong, but if the dealers mechanic was that lazy, they could just state they did the alignment without doing it....it would give the customer some sort of satisfaction, and the dealer would be happy too. I don't understand why any dealer would argue about guaranteed work and getting paid handsomely for it

 

Nope...Nothing can void a warranty automatically...If they break something while working under there then Toyota won't cover it...but Firestone should. And the guy at Firestone near me is great at getting both my cars set up- They both wear even and drive true....I'm sure there are better places- and places that are alot worse...

Toyota doesn't pay full cost iirc for warrnat work. So while your truck is on the rack getting aligned for X dollars/per hour...they COULD be making X+25 dollars for doing a customer paid job. And they probably still owe the tech his normally hourly wage for the work....so it's not as great a deal as it seems.

 

Actually the service guy did try to tell me the alignment was done. I read through the paperwork they gave me and checked the truck and then went back. Then they told me the tech said it was not done.

I'm really glad that I found the crapstorm expression:

It is do a IQ quiz when dealing with a dealer. LOL.

 

A couple years ago I've been charged $200 for a 10-dollar engine air vlave connector. That's what woke me up and I started to learn some DIY knowledge. It is fun anyways. It's a shame that you're too far away from the great state of Arizona.

 

All a Toy. tech is going to do is drive it and if there is no drastic "pull," he'll call it good. Most of these line techs. are in such a hurry. I think if it's really bothering you, you should have a reputable tire shop (that puts vehicles on the alignment rack all day long) look at it. They are more alignment experts anyway. IMHO.

 

I'd guess so. I'll most likely try Firestone near my work if not this time then in the future. I'd like to see some alignment data anyways.

 

Please allow a jump in for some alignment specs - or send me to another thread?

09 TRD DC LB TSB 4 leaf spring sets on rear (about 1" raise over the 3 leaf springs).
Billy 5100's all around. Fronts at .085 only.
Alignment Specs? Anyone know (for when I go for alignment)?

How 'bout if Fronts set at 1 75". Specs then?

I would like to be educated.
Thanks for allowing the intrusion.

By the way, my dealer did the alignment when just the TSB springs were installed.

 

Not at all.

I'm thinking about 5100's too. I'm curious about whether the specs change or not. You see, when I was thinking about the geometry, I kinda felt that you always want the tires to form certain angles with repect to ground. When riding height or other factors change, those angles are off so you need to change them back with an alignment job?

I'm a complete dummy on this please educate me.

 

This is something that is VERY often unknown. We get paid 100% commission and just about everything has a set amount of hours in which it should be done. So that means say your TSB is a 2 hour job. It the truck seems ok the mechanic can save a lot of work from himself by not doing it. If he does do the alignment and the whole job takes say 2.5 hours, that .5 is UNPAID, yes free labor. We only get paid for the quoted time not how long it actually takes us to do it. You gotta be very fast and good to make money in this field. And anytime a customer comes back from us doing work on there vehicle and it not being fixed right is also unpaid. Warranty and TSB work often doesn't pay so hot so most techs wanna run threw it pretty fast.

 

P.S. I'm proud to say I do make sure its all done right before I send it off. Alignments only take 30mins to an hour if you halfway know what your doing. I often catch myself doing stuff I don't have to like cleaning everything after I take it off cause I'm a neat freak and it ends up taking some of my time up but I get my jobs done pretty quick still 99% of the time. Some wanna just mess your day all up though. Lol