Warranty Awareness for Modified Toyota 4Runners
- Thread starter propain
- Start date
I believe this.
Hell, I had a POS Ford Ranger that, after having a recall rear axle replacement, and taking it in 3 times to dealers regarding an oil leak at/in the transmission, was told there's no problem.
Then, at 37,000 miles, the transmission burned out 45 miles north of Ridgecrest, CA in BFE. What did Ford say?.... Out of warranty. Not our problem. Same answer from Ford corporate, even after pointing out the other problems... and this was completely STOCK. Top that off, we had 3 generations of the family work for Ford. We were loyal customers and "family" (ha).
The flip side of this coin.....
We never bought another Ford ever again. They lost my mom, dad, me, and my sister and brother in law as customers.
I wish I could say my experiences with Jeep were much better. lol
Part of why I'm in a 4Runner now.
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honda250xtitan
New member
friends don't let friends off-road with spacer lifts 
wfo9
New member
Hate to say it.. But the spacer setup is for sure the cause. Can totally understand why the dealer would say get lost. I would too.
It most likely allows the coil to bind and bottom out before the bump stops hit. Pushing hard hits into shock vs vs the frame. It is totally not designed for that. If anything ***** at Toytec for selling you stuff that is probably not well thought out for true offload use.
A stock TRD pro is fine offroad. Throw on junk parts, get appropriate results.
My new favorite quote that holds so true for offroad related stuff.
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
It most likely allows the coil to bind and bottom out before the bump stops hit. Pushing hard hits into shock vs vs the frame. It is totally not designed for that. If anything ***** at Toytec for selling you stuff that is probably not well thought out for true offload use.
A stock TRD pro is fine offroad. Throw on junk parts, get appropriate results.
My new favorite quote that holds so true for offroad related stuff.
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
propain
New member
I've been offroad many times with the spacers and never had an issue. The problem arose when I added weight to the front end (new winch & hybrid bumper), so the combonation of spacer and weight to the front did in the strut shock mount. Now looking to go OME BP51, its not available for the 5th Gen yet. Would like King Shocks but interested in trying the BP51's.
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jrandom
New member
This is the truest statement of the new century.
BlackWorksInc
New member
You've modified the suspension, suspension geometry, loaded spring rate, and introduced stress to the suspension it was not originally designed for. Whether or not that is enough to just destroy a 4Runner's suspension is not relevant in the case of warranty applicability, simply the fact that the spacer lift itself introduces multiple stressors and variables into a system not designed for it and a failure has resulted in that system is enough for Toyota to deny coverage.
If those rain guards fit into the window channel (like most do) and cause a situation where the glass is jamming into that channel and is tweaked to a point that it could shatter (rather surprisingly easy to do with safety glass if you apply stress the right way); then yes, warranty could be denied due to 3rd party accessories. But it wouldn't be your insurance company, it'd be Toyota; but they'd still have possible grounds to deny claim in that rare and convoluted hypothetical situation.
We do the same at our dealership, we install lifts and tires and such. We warranty our work and work with the manufacturer if parts fail (word of advice, Bulletproof is a so/so product with really questionable warranty handling). So IF such a situation as the OP's occured and we had installed the lift, our dealership would probably either ask the DSPM to goodwill it or work through some channels to try and get it covered; or just eat it, not entirely sure how they get it done, but they'd do it. We've also had other dealerships pay for repairs because their spacer lifts broke a strut when the customer hit a pothole with their stock shocks an 37's on a Tundra.
You're assigning a causality that is not entirely accurate. Just because you've been off-roading X number of times with a spacer lift, does not imply that Y possibility of it failing/stressing your suspension does not exist. It just means that Y is a small probability and unfortunately your luck ran out in this case. Additionally what spacer kit did you use exactly? The ones I've seen require replacement of the top mount or at least removal of the shock to install; that alone would introduce enough non-factory parts into equation to make any failure questionable from a warranty standpoint and denied.
Additionally the TRD PRO is actually fairly competent on the trail in stock form as it was designed. You as the owner introduced additional variables and assumed it should be good enough for additional weight and modified suspension geometry, which comes back to that causality thing; the majority of the time it'll probably be fine, but there's a small probability it could go pear-shaped... which it did in this case.
I'm not trying to beat you down here, just trying to point out the flaws in your expectations here. The MM Act isn't a get out of free jail card for modifying your vehicle, nor is there any reasonable expectation of warranty when you actively introduce parts & modify a factory assembly and it results in failure. That's not to say the bushing couldn't have failed because it was defective, but because of your modification, there's enough reasonable doubt and questionability that the factory is not obligated to uphold their warranty on that specific component.
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phillyd2
Senior Member
I too never ever had issues with anything.......until I did.
Senorlechero
New member
You can off road the snot out of these things, and in stock form too.
Not sure why you would expect the dealership to fix your parts with this admission....:nono:
Quicksand~
New member
I called and talked to my dealership the other day about the warranty and the 2" lift. I was told they will do it and the warranty will stay intact. Downside is they want 995.00
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ToyoT4R
Member
Frustrating, yes. But if you take a car like a Nissan GTR or the newMustang GT-350R which are clearly marketed as track oriented and you track it then proceed to break something, the driver is liable for any damage. Same with off-road vehicles like the TRD Pro and Raptor.
rayofsi
New member
4runner specific kit is not out. Everyone has been using the FJ kit which is about the same
greatape
Senior Member
I run BP-51s //all ARB changed was the remote res/bracket..even posted a link
BlackWorksInc
New member
Actually there's an interesting lawsuit regarding the GT-350R's and their differentials failing and transmissions going into limp home mode. The issue there is that why the vehicle is marketed as such, it seems Ford shot themselves in the foot there by issuing TSBs and acknowledging that additionally cooling parts would be needed if the vehicle was used heavily (essentially going against their marketing that it was track ready). Sort of an entertaining read when I saw it.
Almost bought that white one but I went with the black one they did instead. I am loving it so far. They made all the changes I wanted to do anyway and even with the products I was looking at.
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CF_Machete
Senior Member
Screw the stealership. Just up grade you front suspension an move on.
I don't place much faith in the stealerships in my area... way too mobbed up. Take the mind set that you're on your own and install your new struts yourself & find an off road shop to do you alignment.
Billstein 6112's are pretty much adjustable versions of the stock pro front shocks and way cheaper than msrp. Maybe go to fox or king if you plan on bombing down trails.
I don't place much faith in the stealerships in my area... way too mobbed up. Take the mind set that you're on your own and install your new struts yourself & find an off road shop to do you alignment.
Billstein 6112's are pretty much adjustable versions of the stock pro front shocks and way cheaper than msrp. Maybe go to fox or king if you plan on bombing down trails.
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03_4x4Runner
Senior Member
Almost bought that white one but I went with the black one they did instead. I am loving it so far. They made all the changes I wanted to do anyway and even with the products I was looking at.
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Where are you located. The background in the picture does not look like Lake Havasu.
Gotta pay to play!!!
I just had a kid in a slammed TC come in saying his axles are binding and it should be covered under warranty. I said "dude your car is 2 inches off the ground and you expect this to be covered?" He called Toyota corporate they sent a guy out he looked at the car and then gave him an estimate. Long story short car left the dealership on a tow truck to "his friends shop" for repairs
I just had a kid in a slammed TC come in saying his axles are binding and it should be covered under warranty. I said "dude your car is 2 inches off the ground and you expect this to be covered?" He called Toyota corporate they sent a guy out he looked at the car and then gave him an estimate. Long story short car left the dealership on a tow truck to "his friends shop" for repairs
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