I thought I would give an update on the situation with the wifes 06 tundra. I had the wife take it to our mechanic down the road on Tuesday morning. They went for a ride and He pretty much confirmed my suspicions with a twist, the front right wheel bearing was also making noise, Hmmm? both front & rear bearings on the same side bad???
I told him to replace the front wheel bearing first, and he suggested to take the truck to the dealer for the rear end as it should be covered by the 5yr/60,000 drivetrain warranty. I picked the truck up on Thursday afternoon after work, and he showed me the front bearing & where it had failed. The bearing rollers are held together with plastic cages, which were split in two places. The rollers themselves were in decent shape with a few heat spots & the races had some scoring. He refered to the bearing as "Jap junk" and replaced it with a much better upgraded unit with a steel cage. I got out of that repair for $247.00, which I thought was very reasonable. The bearing listed for $210.00, he gave it to me for $141.00 & 1.5 hrs. labor @ 65.00.
Part 2 The Dealer
My wife called the dealer & set it up to bring it in, we headed right from our mechanic to the dealer on Thursday evening. We were very apprehensive about taking it in as we have had some previous less than steller service there. ( they are the only Toyota dealer in Lansing Mi. & they know it.) We dropped off the truck after explaning our issues & I also asked them to check out everything from the front diff. back to the rear. The truck has 47,000 on it, so I thought now was a good time as any before the warranty runs out. They called the next day & said the right rear bearing was bad & they were replacing it under warranty & we could pick it up Friday evening. We walked into service to get the keys & ask a few questions about the repair. I wanted to know if they replaced the rear diff. fluid when they replaced the bearing. The service rep. said no & gave me some B.S. about how the bearing rollers are encased in plastic and there is no way there was metal to metal contact from the bad bearing.
Yeah right!!! When we dropped the truck off they tried to sell us some $400.00 pkg. to change all fluids etc. which we of course said no we weren't interested. They also said that the truck would be washed & cleaned when we picked it up no charge. I just wanted to get out of there ASAP at that point. We got the truck home and I looked it over, it was not washed, there were grease prints on the wheel from the mechanic putting it back on, and when I crawled underneath to check it out there was penetrating oil sprayed all over the tire and the backing plate area. I guess it's true what they say about warranty work, get it in & out we aren't making any $$$ on it. On the bright side we didn't have to pay anything for the repair, & the Wife is happy that her truck is smooth & quiet again.
In the future I will NOT be using the dealer for anything except warranty work. I am also going to replace the rear diff. fluid ASAP!!! I hope I didn't Bore everyone with my rant, but I had to vent.
Dave L.
2006 tundra drivetrain warranty
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