What did you do to/in your 5th Gen today?!

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Finally got to my 75k tire rotate & balance. Dealer charges $25, Discount Tire does it for free since I bought the tires there.

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Looking at the invoice, it was a flat labor rate of $69 per item (2 diffs + xfer).

And yeah, that's probably steep by $100. I was on the road elsewhere when the dealership called with the quote and I just said yeah, do it.

And yeah, I probably could have saved even more by doing it myself. But I live in a smallish apartment. I don't have a ton of room for extra tools without just stacking them in a corner and I don't have a place to work on my vehicle (my lease specifically prohibits you from working on vehicles in the parking lot), so I don't have a ton of choice about getting someone else to do it.

And yeah, an independent shop might have been cheaper. But I've only lived in the area for a couple of years and I don't know any actual mechanics or have people that can recommend a good local mechanic, so it would be a crapshoot in choosing one. There is a certain amount of insurance in having Toyota do the work - mostly that if they screw something up and refuse to make it right, I have Toyota corporate to fall back on. Independent shops don't have that.

I get all the reasons and I figured you had yours. I was not trying to bash you. I hope I didn't come across that way. My intent was to encourage you to call and talk to the shop manager and ask why it took 3 hours of labor to remove 6 bolts.

I expect them to say "well, we have to remove the skid plate to get to the front differential, and that takes longer than you think."

I would then expect your response to be along the lines of: "Hey, look. I know there is more than just 6 bolts, but come on. Let's be reasonable. You're using power tools and pneumatics to remove the bolts and the truck is up on a lift. The only time a hand tool should be used is when torquing the bolts back in place. (pause) I know there are other costs in running a shop. Especially one as nice as you have here. (<--don't forget that compliment) You've got to have all the fancy equipment and have to pay the utilities in order to use them. I know you need to make a profit, and I'm not trying to prevent you from doing that. I'm just asking that you charge me for the actual time that it takes to change the fluid."

Them: "That is the actual time it takes."

You: "That isn't how long it should take an experienced mechanic. Are you telling me that you let a newbie work on my truck?"

Them: "Look, pal. We called you with a quote and you agreed to it. Our prices are set by Toyota and we don't have any control over them. There's nothing that I can do to help you."

You: "That's funny that Toyota sets the prices because different dealerships charge different amounts to do the same work, so I don't fully believe you there. I know that I agreed to the price before hand, but I was in the middle of a situation and knew that I needed to get it done. I thought it seemed a little high at the time, but figured that was just the price for quality work. It didn't hit me that I was paying for 3 hours of labor (200/69=2.89 hours) for something that should be under an hour (even with removing and reinstalling the skid plates) until I picked it up and paid. If I need to contact Toyota corporate, I'll be happy to do so. I'd like to first start with the General Manager. Can you give me his contact info?"

If they are reasonable, they should give a partial refund. Hopefully in the amount of $100. If they are not, you can expect more stonewalling. The whole conversation should be quick, and is certainly worth a try.
 
Threw on a little mod yesterday, installed the Diode Dynamics Tail As Turn Module. This changes your LED panel in the tail light to be your turn signal as well as your brake light. I've noticed a lot of cars these days with LED tail lights have this feature.

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The module has the added feature of allowing the big clear turn signal at the top of the light to be converted to a second reverse light. Here's the module and the LED bulbs that I used. You have to tap the green wire in order to add the second reverse, I don't know why they don't just do this out of the box.

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When I first got the truck I installed 194 wedge bulbs in the reverse lights, when I removed the stock reverse light bulb housing the stock bulb fell out and into the tail light housing and it's been in there for almost a year. So I figured this was the perfect excuse to get it out. Took a couple minutes but I finally got the stock bulb out of the housing

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Here's a comparison shot of the stock bulb, next to the LED wedge I had in the reverse (same bulbs that I have in my interior), and the new 921 LED bulbs that I replaced as the lower backup lights.

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And here's the stock amber rear turn signal bulb, being replaced with an all white reverse light, this thing is huge and insanely bright!

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I broke out some 3M double sided tape

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And mounted the resistors to the metal body panels away from all the other wiring

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Then tied up all the wiring.

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Here's a day shot of the reverse lights, I planned to get some night shots but it thunderstormed and was pouring last night when I was going to go out so I said screw it. You can see that both the upper and lower clear lense are lit now.

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I put the flashers on to test functionality and this is what the flashing turn signal looks like now, you can also see the new 921 Profile LED bulb in the lower reverse lense. I'll post some night shots hopefully tomorrow, I can't imagine how bright these things are going to be at night.

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Well @ 29k I changed my cabin air filter... I always see people complain that Toyota tries to change at oil change intervals but with what mine looked like I don't think they've ever looked at it... it was BLACK!!! Anyways, changed in the Autozone parking lot :).
 
Got the 285 70 17 put on yesterday how they look?


Looks nice! We’re twins! Eventually I’ll remove my rocker panels and replace my OPOR sliders when I move back down to the lower 48. Shipping is a pain here in Alaska.


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New wheels and tires!
 

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