[maxpower_hd]

After talking with my brother yesterday, I felt obligated to post this as sort of a rebuttal to my post on dealer rip offs, in this case Toyota dealers.

A guy we know had a 1995 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 he originally bought for $600 because it needed some work. He put about $1000 into it in repairs. He got a letter from Toyota saying they extended their frame rust through warranty on Tacoma models from 1995-2000 and invited him in to the nearest dealer to inspect the frame. For those who may not know, these things are notorious for frame rot anywhere that uses salt on the roads.

This was no half hearted inspection either. They went through the entire frame with a pointed welder's hammer. If the hammer poked through they bought it back. Well the hammer poked through in one little spot. They gave him 150% of the Kelly Blue Book, Excellent Condition value which ended up being $10,500 plus gave him a rental car for one month so he could find a car. They even offered and additional $1500 rebate if he bought a new Toyota.

Well he ended up taking the money, trading in his 2003 Sporty and bought a brand new Rocker C. He ended up buying himself another $2000 piece of crap truck. And no, it wasn't a Toyota.

So I guess not all dealer stories turn out to be horror stories. Some actually have a happy ending. I just don't typically hear of them.

[SPORSTERBOY]

Maybe I Should Go Find Me A Crapota, Sometimes I Guess It Just Works Out Good For People, Good To Hear The Good Endings.

[maxpower_hd]

I already have a Crapota. Wrong year range though. I got it for $0 and rebuilt the motor. Then suffered the dreaded frame rot issue. Found another one with a blown head gasket and am currenlty in the process of swaping the rebuilt motor into it. My luck goes the other way.

[Blackmouth]

Good story.

I like to hear about businesses that still do things the right way.
They're getting REAL hard to find though.

[fittykick]

I just had a guy at work get his bought back from Toyota...he got $15000 for his. The truck looked mint, except for the huge holes in the frame. I doubt you would get that from one of the big three.

[maxpower_hd]

Originally Posted by fittykick

I just had a guy at work get his bought back from Toyota...he got $15000 for his. The truck looked mint, except for the huge holes in the frame. I doubt you would get that from one of the big three.

I'm guessing his was a little newer or something. I agree, you wouldn't get that from the big three. However, you still see much older US made trucks with perfectly good frames. It's the piss poor closed tube design Yota uses that caused the issue. Everything gets trapped inside of it with no way to escape. Now they are just trying to save face in my opinion to get people to buy another Yota. I have one and I like it OK but I also got it for nothing. I probably wouldn't have bought it if I had to pay. They get too much money for the damned things.

BTW fittykick, what part of the state are you from. I live about 35 miles northwest of Boston and I have a seasonal camper down in Rutland.

[fittykick]

I'm down in the Wrentham outlet area. The guy at work had a 2000, like I said, it looked mint 'til you looked underneath. I had a yota truck that blew a headgasket 2000 miles out of warrenty and they took care of it no questions. It wasn't even my usual dealer, just the one closest to where I broke down.

[maxpower_hd]

I just picked up another one for short money so now I'm in the middle of a big swap project, making one good one out of two not so good ones. If I had the money I would by a new truck and save my knuckles.........and my hair. Stupid kid in stupid college.

[Ultra Al]

Harley would have probably handled it the way they did their twin cam tensioner , denied there was a problem. Al

[00 wildglide]

MAXPOWER,
Thats an interesting story,I was working for Toyota at that time & participated in a field fix frame update procedure on those Tacoma's your talking about.We would remove all the suspension components from the shock tower areas and weld these gusset plates between the front shock towers & the frame for added strength.We were told at the time that this was to prevent any potential frame fatigue leading to cracks & was purely a precaution by Toyota.
One thing about Toyota/Lexus is they do take care of most warranty issues better than most.(JMO).I've been employed with Lexus for almost 8 years & have seen some unbelievable stuff taken care of via "warranty".
I've owned 3 new H-D's in 11 years & have almost always had to wrestle verbally to get things covered.I'm getting used to the saying: "It is what it isI try my best to do all my own repairs & upgrades that way I know who to kick in the ass when it fails.,Latter 00 wildglide