dsfra
Member
Don't Need No Stinkin' Wrench - I Got Pliers
After a protracted pi$$ing contest with the dealer's service department manager, I finally got my (still fairly) new TE in for an alignment. Had told the SM that it wanders all over the road, and in fact the first time the spouse had it on the freeway she asked what was wrong with the steering. It was even worse, not surprisingly, when towing with 220 lbs tongue weight unloading the front end. In a preliminary discussion with the SM, had mentioned that according to posters on this forum it's best to aim for 4 degrees of positive castor, and he said ok, they would put it on the alignment rack and if the alignment was within spec I would pay $100 for having them check, and if out of spec then it would be considered a warranty repair. Mentioned to the SM that the wandering is symptomatic of insufficient castor, as he should surely know, and that this forum has a number of threads pertaining thereto. He said that they won't do anything based on a customer's "hunch", and that neither he not Toyota cares what people are saying on the web. It didn't seem to register with him when I mentioned that they're called "Customers" and that they should really be at least marginally important to both he and Toyota. Anyhow, they found that the castor was just barely within the low end of the Toyota spec of 2.5 - 4.0 degrees at 2.8 (L) and 2.5 (R). But then, praise be to the deity of your choice, the toe was supposed to be -.03 - +.13 degrees but was +.17 (L) and +.16 (R), so strictly speaking the alignment was out of spec, and ergo it was covered under the warranty. Neener, neener, neener. Ended up with castor set to 4.0 (L) and 3.9 (R), and toe within spec. Now don't have to be making constant steering corrections to keep it in a straight line. Much nicer.
Had mentioned to the service writer (and even left a Dear John note on the driver's seat) about how the customer would really prefer to have the suspension and steering fasteners properly torqued by hand, using an actual torque wrench, to the factory-specified torque specs. So was gratified when talking to the mechanic after the work was done, when he said that in fact everything went normally and everything was torqued properly. Then was under the vehicle yesterday running co-ax cable for the rear-view camera mounted on the back of the trailer, and noticed that instead of using a wrench when adjusting the steering rack ends, he had just grabbed a pair of pliers and went at it. Granted that it's much easier to use pliers, or even the ever-popular vice-grips, since you don't have to deal with all those confusing MM's and IN's, and numbers like 12mm and fractions like 9/16" and stuff. Don't need no stinking wrench - I got pliers!!!
After a protracted pi$$ing contest with the dealer's service department manager, I finally got my (still fairly) new TE in for an alignment. Had told the SM that it wanders all over the road, and in fact the first time the spouse had it on the freeway she asked what was wrong with the steering. It was even worse, not surprisingly, when towing with 220 lbs tongue weight unloading the front end. In a preliminary discussion with the SM, had mentioned that according to posters on this forum it's best to aim for 4 degrees of positive castor, and he said ok, they would put it on the alignment rack and if the alignment was within spec I would pay $100 for having them check, and if out of spec then it would be considered a warranty repair. Mentioned to the SM that the wandering is symptomatic of insufficient castor, as he should surely know, and that this forum has a number of threads pertaining thereto. He said that they won't do anything based on a customer's "hunch", and that neither he not Toyota cares what people are saying on the web. It didn't seem to register with him when I mentioned that they're called "Customers" and that they should really be at least marginally important to both he and Toyota. Anyhow, they found that the castor was just barely within the low end of the Toyota spec of 2.5 - 4.0 degrees at 2.8 (L) and 2.5 (R). But then, praise be to the deity of your choice, the toe was supposed to be -.03 - +.13 degrees but was +.17 (L) and +.16 (R), so strictly speaking the alignment was out of spec, and ergo it was covered under the warranty. Neener, neener, neener. Ended up with castor set to 4.0 (L) and 3.9 (R), and toe within spec. Now don't have to be making constant steering corrections to keep it in a straight line. Much nicer.
Had mentioned to the service writer (and even left a Dear John note on the driver's seat) about how the customer would really prefer to have the suspension and steering fasteners properly torqued by hand, using an actual torque wrench, to the factory-specified torque specs. So was gratified when talking to the mechanic after the work was done, when he said that in fact everything went normally and everything was torqued properly. Then was under the vehicle yesterday running co-ax cable for the rear-view camera mounted on the back of the trailer, and noticed that instead of using a wrench when adjusting the steering rack ends, he had just grabbed a pair of pliers and went at it. Granted that it's much easier to use pliers, or even the ever-popular vice-grips, since you don't have to deal with all those confusing MM's and IN's, and numbers like 12mm and fractions like 9/16" and stuff. Don't need no stinking wrench - I got pliers!!!
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