I got a letter saying something to the effect of there being a recall on a 85-95 steering component due to it's cracking under stress when turning the wheels while not in motion. It was sent by the toyota manufacturer and offered to replace it for free. Can anyone elaborate on this for me?

goat

 

Ummm - did you see the sticky thread at the top of the section?

 

go get it done.

mine was done per recall a few months ago.

 

I got the same letter a while ago. Took about 4 hrs. to fix.

 

Wow... I got mine almost a year ago... Either way it certainly can't hurt to get it fixed. I think its kinda odd that it took em this long to become aware of the problem.

 

The local dealership wants to keep my 4runner for 3 days. So I've been putting it off for about 8 months. I lost the paperwork they sent me, too. What should I do about that when I do decide that I can be with out my 4runner for 3 days???

 

3 days!!! Tell them u need to go to work. Take it bright and early.

 

It's not really a "problem" per se. The only reason (as far as I know anyways) this became a problem is because when Toyota came out with the T100, they used some of the parts from the compact trucks and 4runners, to create it. I don't see any reaosn why Toyota couldn't have done this - their compact trucks and 4runners have fairly heavy duty components , so all they did was take a truck and make it wider basically. Well the only reported failures of the steering relay rod (from what I've heard anyways) are from T100 equipped trucks, but because the parts are the same as on the Pickups and 4runners, Toyota is recalling all the rods just to be safe, plus I would imagine it gives the dealerships a lot of reasons to do some "cross" selling (e.g. new idler arms, tie rods, and ball joints often needed on these vehicles which are normal wear items for the most part that people often neglect or don't know how to tell if they are gone).

 

Yeah, I did take it there when they opened(actually 30minutes early at like 7:30AM) and they said that they needed it for 3 days!!! So I told them it could wait.....and it has. They said that they are always so busy, they could only have it back to me within 2 days, and that's only if I make an appointment for like 2 months in advance. I have no clue what I'm doing in 2 months, so I'm surely not going to commit to giving up my 4runner for 2 days.

 

That's ridiculous - the only reason they would need it for 2-3 days is so they could pick your rig apart looking for what else they could gouge you for!

Read the stickied thread for what all is involved. I haven't seen one report of it taking more than a day, and there have been several instances where the person dropped it off early so they could get started right on it and they had it back by lunch.

My recall replacement relay rod bent on the first trip out, I replaced it myself in about an hour.

 

I just picked mine up from the dealer yesterday. Brand new relay rod and TREs, no fuss and zero cost or hassle.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. They will conveniently find something else wrong with it, and replace it, and charge me $800 for it. That seems to be the pattern. The same people own a Bombardier(now CAN-AM) dealership and they quoted me $200 to service my ATV,and to replace the transmission belt. They said it would be done in one week... so, a month and a half later I called them, and they said that they had other customers in front of me, and that they hadn't started on it yet. I got a phone call three weeks after that(a full MONTH after I 1st dropped it off) and I got the bill........$650!!!!! They quoted me for $200, and they tryed to charge me for storage(the time that it was there before they worked on it) Now the winch doesn't work, and neither does the cooling fan, and they didn't even replace the tranny belt... Stealership, all the way!!!!

 

3 days!!!!

I remember when I called to see if my truck was part of the recall, the guy explained what they did in short.

told me they had to drop the skid plate and such, just takes awhile..

wow.. takes me 2 mins to drop my skid plate!!
took them a few hours to complete the job.

 

Dude, I don't know which dealer you took it to in Sac..but it sounds like Maita Toyota. Take it to Florin Rd, or the guys in Roseville. Roseville Toyota's service department is open till midnight, and I bet they'll get it done in one day. If not, they do have rental cars.

 

WOW 3 days, took them about 2 hours for mine and that was changing the oil as well.

highway

 

they billed 4 hours for mine, even though it was done in less. they also aligned the truck with the steering wheel over slightly, so i had to bring it back to be re aligned. Deffinately not a 3 day job.

ps. you dont need the paper work, and you can go to ANY toyota dealership to get it done.

 

Yeah, I don't live in Sac, the location thing just says that. I live in Lake County, and it is Thurston Toyota in Ukiah that wants to keep it for 3 days. Yeah, Maita Toyota people are idiots. They tried to tell my dad that a 2003 Toyota Sienna(minivan) does not have an electric fuel pump......and that was the service technician.

 

Eh, sorta.

The steering relay rod is longer on the T100 trucks. They are not the same as the 4runners/trucks. The inner/outer tierods and adjusting sleeves are the same, but not the relay rod.

 

Being a Toyota employee, I can attest to just how busy the dealerships are. However, a good 60% of their work is general maintainence (oil changes, tires, filters, etc.) Try and call em and schedule something in advance, and be sure to let them know that you have a tight schedule and can't be without your vehicle for three days. In Toyota-land, the customer is always right, you just gotta work em a little bit.

 

I got the same recall notice. I have no intention of taking my truck in. If my current steering rod has endured 12 years of abuse without issue, why would I have it replaced with a weaker one?