CookieRoe
Senior Member
About a month ago, I took my rig to a Toyota dealer near my work to get the state inspection. They failed it saying the brake calipers were seized and 2 of the shocks were leaking. They said to repair everything would cost about $2K....... SCREW THAT. I called my mechanic friend in another town (1 hour away) and told me to bring it to him. He inspected it and passed it. He did notice the passenger shock was a tiny bit wet and the rear drivers side was (seemed) fine. This was a quick trip so he never took the wheels off to inspect the brakes, but they functioned fine (truck rolled when in N on a very slight incline, brakes activated fine and released fine).
Fast forward one month to take our time to inspect the brakes and shocks, we find the brakes completely fine. All pads are wearing evenly, pins are lubed (in the rear), rotors are fine (he tested it with a clamp looking tool). Calipers also function just fine. No evidence of seized calipers. So, we called BS on the brakes the dealer wanted to fix.
While inspecting the brakes, we took a look at the shocks. Driver's front and passenger rear were fine. Drivers rear and passenger front were a little wet (see picture). It was then I discovered the hydraulic lines coming out of the shocks. XREAS!!!!!!!!! DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!! (kinda feel foolish having this truck almost 3 years and not realizing I had it) :ybrick: OK, maybe the dealer diagnosis of the shocks were spot on. This certainly explains why the dealer was charging so much for shocks.
passenger front;
driver rear;
lines and sender units look in good shape:
Went to Conicelli Toyota (closer to my house AND home to partznet.com) to price out XREAS shocks and other stuff and gave me a good price. Because the dealer who originally diagnosed the bad shocks seemed to know what they were talking about, I asked them to price match the shocks from Conicelli and we had a deal. We all know they are crossed linked, so replacing one set, well, you may as well replace the other set as we also know that this damn suspension lasts about 100K miles. Replacing all four will set me back a little less then $900 (not including the alignment). This will be the first and LAST time I will be repairing these shocks. The dealer told me you can replace JUST the shock (any shock) only once. A second time requires replacing the WHOLE SYSTEM (lines, sender units and shocks). That costs about $3K............ So, no.
I really enjoy my truck and love the fact that despite my mods, it looks completely factory. I won't be doing any lifting kits or big tires (those days for me are over).
Just wanted to share this and had one question:
1) I know that XREAS is a closed system, however you can replace the shocks (if you do it correctly) because of the disconnect locations, but is it true you can only do this ONCE???
thanks
Fast forward one month to take our time to inspect the brakes and shocks, we find the brakes completely fine. All pads are wearing evenly, pins are lubed (in the rear), rotors are fine (he tested it with a clamp looking tool). Calipers also function just fine. No evidence of seized calipers. So, we called BS on the brakes the dealer wanted to fix.
While inspecting the brakes, we took a look at the shocks. Driver's front and passenger rear were fine. Drivers rear and passenger front were a little wet (see picture). It was then I discovered the hydraulic lines coming out of the shocks. XREAS!!!!!!!!! DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!! (kinda feel foolish having this truck almost 3 years and not realizing I had it) :ybrick: OK, maybe the dealer diagnosis of the shocks were spot on. This certainly explains why the dealer was charging so much for shocks.
passenger front;
driver rear;
lines and sender units look in good shape:
Went to Conicelli Toyota (closer to my house AND home to partznet.com) to price out XREAS shocks and other stuff and gave me a good price. Because the dealer who originally diagnosed the bad shocks seemed to know what they were talking about, I asked them to price match the shocks from Conicelli and we had a deal. We all know they are crossed linked, so replacing one set, well, you may as well replace the other set as we also know that this damn suspension lasts about 100K miles. Replacing all four will set me back a little less then $900 (not including the alignment). This will be the first and LAST time I will be repairing these shocks. The dealer told me you can replace JUST the shock (any shock) only once. A second time requires replacing the WHOLE SYSTEM (lines, sender units and shocks). That costs about $3K............ So, no.
I really enjoy my truck and love the fact that despite my mods, it looks completely factory. I won't be doing any lifting kits or big tires (those days for me are over).
Just wanted to share this and had one question:
1) I know that XREAS is a closed system, however you can replace the shocks (if you do it correctly) because of the disconnect locations, but is it true you can only do this ONCE???
thanks
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