Concerning finding on my first service visit.....

I bought the Tundra in July and had my first service today at 5,000 miles. They were going to change the oil, rotate the tires and check the squeak from the rear brakes and bed.....I thought it was the brakes. Basically, especially during low speed turning like in parking lots or garages, I would get a squeal from what I thought was the rear brakes or a bed creak sound. Just got a call from the dealership - they have to replace my rear axle as "it is out 1/1,000th". This doesn't make me feel good at all. He asked if have hit pothole or anything like that? I said not that I could recall and if I hit a pothole large enough to bend an axle, it stands to reason that it would have bent a wheel or popped a tire? For a truck that is supposed to be able to tow quite a bit of weight, how would a pothole bend an axle????? He backpedaled a bit and said it probably came from the factory that way...….which is still concerning. Regardless, they're replacing it under warranty.

But should I be asking for anything else? Would a bent axle affect the brake or tire wear after only 5,000 miles? Is there anything else I should be looking at to make sure it is taken care of properly?

 

That sucks. At least it's under warranty. I would definitely have them check rear tires, breaks, and bearings. I had a Taco that came from the factory without functioning 4wd. Bent pin in an electrical connector. So, it can happen. Hope they get you rolling again soon!

 

One of my best friends is the genral sales manager of the dealership; great dude and someone who I would trust with my kids. So I have no doubt HE will take care of me whatever happens. But it doesn't do a lot for my confidence in Toyota right now. Previously owned corolla, camry, 4runner and now have the tundra and rav4 (wife). So I guess the odds were that something would eventually slip through the cracks - just wasn't expecting it to be something as big as a rear axle on the tundra I guess.

 

Verify that all bearings and seals are also going to be replaced. It should be automatic in a case like this, but it won't hurt to verify it with the dealership and make sure it's documented that it was done.

 

Yes, that whole deal seems, uh, disconcerting.

 

1/1000th of an inch? That's like a human hair. What are they measuring in thousandths of an inch?

 

They used some type of laser machine

 

Yeah, what I thought...1/1000th of...WHAT? Inches, meters, miles? Some unintelligence there...typical machining tolerances are +/- 0.002"

 

I think he said 1/1000th of an inch...….he seemed to think this was the cause of the noise.

 

I think he's reaching and misdiagnosing. I would be sure he is 100% sure that's what's causing it before they do any work.

 

I guess I am at a loss...…..do you think I should take it to a different dealership to try to diagnose? There are plenty of dealerships around me but I have only used this one

 

I had a Chevy Suburban years ago suffer a complete rear drive train failure at about 15k miles. They had to replace the entire rear drive train (axle, differential, drive shaft, etc.). Not really sure what the cause was.

 

Was it a tech that told you "it was out by 1/1000th"?...Or a service writer, or the service manager? My money is on a service writer...some dealership service writers were working at McDonalds last week. I would definitely ask for a full explanation and defense of the diagnosis from the tech himself (i.e. why is that 1/1000th causing the noise and how?) before letting them do any work. If it was the tech that told you that, I would definitely get another opinion at another dealership. JMHO.

 

1/1000th of an inch? I’ll bet the acceptable range of variance in rear axle production is far larger than 1/1000th of an inch.

Unless maybe the ring and pinion backlash or something is wrong?

Just makes no sense

 

ask to talk to master Tech since this is a pretty big job.

 

My thoughts too...1/1000th is a pretty tight spec.

 

Which dealer was this? The 1/1000th comment seems strange. Also, isnt the oil change done at 10k, not 5?

 

I just spoke to the shop foreman......apparently they called him in to diagnose the problem since nobody else could figure it out. I asked him if there was any harm in waiting to do the repair if he wasn’t certain that this was the cause of the issue. I said I didn’t want to unnecessarily perform such a major repair on a brand new truck. His response was that he was certain this was the issue and if it was his truck he would do it. He thinks it came from the factory that way or happened during shipment - this dealership purchased this truck from another dealership in the south and had it shipped to sell to me. Again, I am inclined to believe them as they have always taken care of me in the past. But not sure what to do here. I feel like a second opinion would complicate things and drag this out.

 

Yes that’s correct. It was the first service due at 5k - I was mistakenly under the impression that the 5k included an oil change.

 

Darcars in silver spring md. Again I have had nothing but positive experiences here so I am inclined to trust them.

 

I’m not going to say dont trust them. But it sounds like they haven’t even described to you what they suspect the problems is.

The rear axle is not bad. Maybe a part of it is, an axle shaft, bearing, differential, etc.

Most of our trucks the axle doesn’t even sit dead on center with the frame... there is no way they have some magic laser that points at the axle and says it is bad. It wouldn’t even make sense for them to have a tool that does that

 

You're correct; in the words of the mechanic the rear axle shaft is bent and that is what the problem is. I am unsure at this time if they're going to just replace the shaft or the entire rear axle assembly. Nothing is getting done today as they don't have the parts so I am going to speak to my buddy tonight and possibly go to work with him tomorrow and talk directly to the head mechanic.

 

They're probably measuring runout. Overly simplified, it's how straight and true a rotating shaft is.

Usually when you say something is out it means out of tolerance.

He could be, not knowing what Toyota's tolerance is to start, it's hard to say if this out of spec condition is causing the problem. But it is out of spec and needs to be corrected.

 

Hate to say it, but this explanation is typical of mechanics that aren't really sure what the issue is. Not buying it. Even if they did use a "laser". My brother, who is a master machinist, is also calling bullshit on this. And his company builds components for nuclear submarines.

 

Two professions would rather makeup BS than say they don’t know: mechanic and doctor

 

I could see an out of spec axle shaft causing premature wear to the wheel bearing. The noise you’re describing would then come from the bad wheel bearing.
You’re only 5000 in. If they fix it and goof up the fix you’ll know long before you’re out of warranty.

 

The hotshot that moved the truck between dealerships likely used a chain binder over the top of the housing and bent it. Wouldnt be the first time. Ask if there is any damage to brake lines or scarring on the housing. Possible they used soft straps just around the housing but ratcheted it down with chain binders.

 

This begs the question of whether they're going to change just one axle shaft, or the entire differential.

 

The sound was coming from the rear driver side wheel well....so I initially thought brakes. But that was just my uninformed guess.....knowing now, it very well could have been the sound of a bad wheel bearing.

I am going to talk more in depth this evening and figure out exactly what the issue is and report back to you guys. I apologize for my lack of knowledge on this - it was knee jerk for me to post because it surprised me on a brand new $40k truck......hopefully, I have better information tomorrow to relay and the advice can keep coming.

Thanks in advance for all your help