Trail edition not recommended for lift?

MacRunner

MacRunner

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I am upgrading my 2wd sr5 for a trail edition with kdds. I was looking to possibly add a lift kit prior to delivery so I could throw the extra costs in with my loan.

The dealer referred me to a shop that does a lot of mods for toyota's here in Georgia. He said that he would not recommend a lift on the trail edition as that will have a negative effect on the existing suspension and other "electronics".

He said Toyota would not honor the powertrain warranty with an after market lift kit installed? Is this true?

I dig the look of a trail that has been lifted - but I don't want to alter any of the suspension features that are included with the trail.
 
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Well, lifting is altering the suspension, but it is no different from lifting any other model. The not honoring warranty part is BS.
 
A quick search of the 5th Gen forum will reveal an absolute butt load of information on this subject. In short... lift your KDSS equipped Trail Edition and enjoy it. I would run far far away from a dealer who tells me I will void my warranty by lifting my truck, that is a bunch of BS.
 
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I just had drivetrain warranty work done and mine is lifted and modded and there wasn't even a question about it.

And there are plenty of KDSS equipped TE's that have been lifted.
 
From what I understand, the only way they will not honor the warranty is if they can prove you lift is the cause of the problem. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

As far as the offroad shops around here, a lot of them don't seem to know their head from their rear. I talked to southern offroad a while back who is the "best" and they swore to me that a 17" wheel would not fit on my truck no matter the backspace. I walked him outside and showed him what came stock on it and he was dumbfounded. Yup, not going back there.

I ended up putting my spacer lift on myself in the end. Never found a shop that I trusted enough.
 
FactoryRide said:
From what I understand, the only way they will not honor the warranty is if they can prove you lift is the cause of the problem. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

As far as the offroad shops around here, a lot of them don't seem to know their head from their rear. I talked to southern offroad a while back who is the "best" and they swore to me that a 17" wheel would not fit on my truck no matter the backspace. I walked him outside and showed him what came stock on it and he was dumbfounded. Yup, not going back there.

I ended up putting my spacer lift on myself in the end. Never found a shop that I trusted enough.
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This made my day, lmao.
 
Seems strange when someone is in the business of moding vehicles and recommends againts a lift modification. I was told that you will most likely never see a new trail edition on the dealers lot that has been lifted - dealers would then have to cover the modification under warranty and they don't want that responsibilty. They will lift an SR5 or Limited, but not the trail - seems a little backwards but that's dealers and liability!

Looks like I will just lift the 4runner later.
 
rebelbowtie said:
I always laugh when people throw this around when denied for warranty work because they modified their vehicle. Toyota has every right to not honor your warranty if something in the suspension or drivetrain breaks and you are lifted with larger than stock tires.
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Basically, the MM act says that the mfg. should prove that the aftermarket device was the cause of the oem part failure. Example, they are gonna have a hard time blaming a blown motor on my suspension lift. It stands to reason that if there is an OEM part failure that is directly tied into something that you modified with aftermarket parts, that will not be covered by warranty - example - a busted ball joint on an OEM upper control arm with aftermarket coil overs.

The problem is there are dealerships who try and write any sort of OEM defect or failure on aftermarket parts without honestly trying to diagnose or prove that the aftermarket part actually had anything to do with the warranty claim.

I am no lawyer for sure, but that is my understanding. I've had lifted and modified vehicles since I was 16 and never had an issue with a dealer owning up to a legitimate warranty claim.
 
SOcalTRAIL said:
Basically, the MM act says that the mfg. should prove that the aftermarket device was the cause of the oem part failure. Example, they are gonna have a hard time blaming a blown motor on my suspension lift. It stands to reason that if there is an OEM part failure that is directly tied into something that you modified with aftermarket parts, that will not be covered by warranty - example - a busted ball joint on an OEM upper control arm with aftermarket coil overs.

The problem is there are dealerships who try and write any sort of OEM defect or failure on aftermarket parts without honestly trying to diagnose or prove that the aftermarket part actually had anything to do with the warranty claim.

I am no lawyer for sure, but that is my understanding. I've had lifted and modified vehicles since I was 16 and never had an issue with a dealer owning up to a legitimate warranty claim.
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There was a huge thing in the Audi/VW community because they had TSB's and recalls on their DSG equipped cars. Now loads of S4's that had custom tunes were turned away and "TD1" black flagged on their data base. I laughed when owners of brand new $50,000 cars were in up roar because they couldn't seem to grasp that a modification they did, that increased HP/TQ and put greater strain on all drive train parts would void their warranty.
 
I once had a VW dealer try to deny me a warranty claim when my clutch linkage broke at 20,000 miles. He blamed my MOMO aluminum pedal covers ( I can heel/toe pretty well!).

His argument: "Obviously you had to remove the clutch pedal assembly to install those covers..."

My rebuttal: "If you installed new doors on your kitchen cabinets would you remove them from the wall first?"

They grudgingly honored my warranty. Dealerships=Home for Idiots.
 
rebelbowtie said:
There was a huge thing in the Audi/VW community because they had TSB's and recalls on their DSG equipped cars. Now loads of S4's that had custom tunes were turned away and "TD1" black flagged on their data base. I laughed when owners of brand new $50,000 cars were in up roar because they couldn't seem to grasp that a modification they did, that increased HP/TQ and put greater strain on all drive train parts would void their warranty.
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Ya, that seems pretty obvious. Dealerships just loooove it when you screw with the ECU and do custom tunes and stuff. Probably the fastest way to void a power train warranty!:redbrick:
 
I just had my lift put on by slee off road. Guess who they have a deal worked out with to do an alignment? The Toyota dealership down the road. The dealership calls it the slee calibration which includes an alignment. Being in Colorado they probably get that there are a lot of folks that are going to lift their fj or 4run.

I've had an 89, 02, and now 11 all had lifts all went to dealerships for maintenance and never questioned once. Hell I've been in the bay with the mechanic talking about lift on my trucks :)
 
Buy it, take a road trip to Dallas and have Toyota of Dallas do the install. You can purchase all the parts from Jacque at T4RD Parts for you. Great deal, warranty honored.
 
rebelbowtie said:
I always laugh when people throw this around when denied for warranty work because they modified their vehicle. Toyota has every right to not honor your warranty if something in the suspension or drivetrain breaks and you are lifted with larger than stock tires.
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NO they don't have the "right" that is what this legal act prevents. The burden of proof is on the dealership not the customer. If they can not prove there is a correlation between the modification and the problem they are obligated to repair it under warranty. This isn't open to armchair consumer lawyer interpretation.
 
Stifler said:
NO they don't have the "right" that is what this legal act prevents. The burden of proof is on the dealership not the customer. If they can not prove there is a correlation between the modification and the problem they are obligated to repair it under warranty. This isn't open to armchair consumer lawyer interpretation.
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No they are not, you go out and put a lift and larger tires and break an axle shaft or ANYTHING on the drive train they do not have to honor your warranty. You modified your vehicle, you put extra stress on parts and they failed. Your problem not theirs, that is fact. This is not what the MM act covers.
 
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