Darkbloodmon
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2020
- Location
- Concord, NC
Got a call for a 2022 Tacoma, its a RAP call from a dealership road side service program. They use AAA as a contracted service provider since they don't have their own roadside assistance program.
Most of these calls end up being jump starts, batteries are more often than not older than the newer vehicle they came in; and or the vehicle has been sitting on lot for a period of time draining the bat. Which is what I was thinking before I called the guy to find out the details and give my eta.
Get on the phone with the guy and ask him to describe the problem since those details never make it into the call notes for drivers given the telephone/technology game it is from call center, to dispatch, to driver. He's telling me the "vehicle locked up on him" first happened pulling into a parking lot, he turned it off then went into reverse to and it was driving fine as he pulled into a restaurant to get lunch. Gets out the restaurant and it does the same thing as he's pulling out of the parking lot onto the street at aprox. 15mph. Don't know why he thought it'd go away after time but I digress and keep my thoughts to myself.
I get on location which is the side of a road blocking one lane of a two lane street parallel to a shopping center; its Friday afternoon; there's plenty of traffic and people rushing to get home like they got a text saying "my parents are gone". After assuring the guy that I will take care of his most likely second most valuable and fastest depreciating asset that payments are still being made on. He grabs his personal items and hitches a ride home with the wife leaving me to work in peace.
We got ourselves a TRD SPORT OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (Maximum Pinky Extension), initial thoughts about the issue being he fat fingered a button for a 4x4 mode in the parking lot, diff lock, crawl mode etc. and the vehicle locked the wheels as a safety feature sensing it was on hard pavement and not a loose surface. I get hooked up aim the wheels jab it in neutral and get to winching only to discover that three of the four wheels are moving, the rear left not wanting to be a team player. So I hop inside said Taco and begin looking for the 4x4 controls for about 5 mins before realizing this 35K MSRP Cravings box is 4x2 after looking at the undercarriage, In addition to being 4x2 its got rear drum brakes......
I start talking to myself out loud about what a "GEM" this Meal Deal Taco is compared to my 91' Accord SE that has rear disc brakes, My 03' Dodge 2500 that has rear disc brakes, The F650 I drive that has rear disc brakes, just about if not all of our roll backs/wreckers including our largest Hino's have rear disc brakes. Then I start imagining the conversation that transpired between him and his wife prior to purchasing this vehicle.
Wife: "It doesn't need to be 4x4, you don't do anything on the weekends needing it and your not about to start with a 35K truck"
Husband: "If it can't be 4x4 then can we get x, y, z package?"
Wife : "Sure if we can get a discount on insurance from it"
End of Conversation.
The Taco had some tech package on it, it had adaptive lane control/assist/blind spot warning. I looked up the options for that model year as im writing this. But you know what I don't see as an option for the TRD SPORT? Rear disc brakes. Apparently that's a premium trim to upgrade from such outdated technology. So my thought about the issue moves to a pin or pivot point broke on the rear left drum and now the shoe is contacting the housing and wedging itself against the friction material. Executive decision being more winch, in Neutral, and leave it near the edge of the bed to make removal "Easier".
I pack up this Cravings Box for take out and I'm heading down to Toyota of Rock hill one of my least favorite dealerships by parking lot/ service area drop off design; One ways and narrow isles made for wreckers not roll backs. On the way down to Rock town I'm thinking about how I'm going to drop this Taco "gently" I know I can get it off, but the dealership is still open, and I don't like to be watched while I get intimate with paved surfaces and 10+ ton roll back unloading.
I arrive. Tech parking a car walks over to me as I pull up and asks if it starts, I say "oh yea, but the rear left drum is locked, only three wheels move in N" He then instructs me to drop it right across from the garage entrance so they can drag or push it in. Ok OJ, works for me. I do my thing and back it up with surgical precision and begin the deed....
I get the rear axle off the bed just as gravity unfriends me and friction darts in front of me like a "Nissan Altima driver" taking the last milliseconds of a yellow light leaving me in red. Taco is no longer moving. As a professional problem solver I get to thinking about my options given the circumstance. My plan is to go propose two unattractive options to the service advisors behind the pretty glass so that they provide me with a better one. Ugly option one: "Can I borrow a Tundra to snatch block and drag this taco off the edge of my bed into this spot" , Ugly option two: " I can get it off but im most likely going to damage or scrape up your concrete lot. I can back it farther into the spot get the rear axle off and walk my bed and truck out from underneath the taco after locking the E-Brake" (walking the bed involves using the edge of the bed as a foot peg, I angle the bed sharply towards the ground and lift the bed until my rear axle gets off the ground and walk the truck in or out with the hydraulic cylinders, out in this case and repeat this process as the front wheels roll off) I do this on the daily as the circumstance requires, and without damaging lots but my point is to get to option 3.
Everyone gets bug eyes at option 1 and option 2, until someone speaks up asking if I have skids......, to which I respond with a BS answer " yes but they're going to be too difficult to use in this situation given the vehicle is on an uneven surface" all the while thinking to myself : Why are you asking me to use skids, you aren't going to skid it in your garage, you're sure as hell not going to drag; I'm not about to lift an 60lb jack onto an angled surface to jack up a wheel and slide a skid underneath and do it again to get the skid back once it on the ground. Someone else speaks up "Can you use one of our dollies", Oh yeah option 3, "I sure can". I get the dolly and get the Taco into its space. Initially I leave the dolly on thinking they'll need it to move it inside the shop. So I grab the keys, lock up the Taco and get my bed tucked back in, walk over to the pretty glass windows with desks to hand over the keys and provide the contact info for the customer and the SA says to remove the dolly incase someone steals it overnight. I don't contest, I'm just happy to have it off. I walk back out to retrieve the dolly as a tech is walking out to put a tag in the window for it, he asks for the keys, I tell him the bearded man has them, he notices I'm removing the dolly and asks me to leave it on, I then explain that the SA wanted it back. I can't stand dropping off at dealerships that are still open because multiple people always want to but in and give me directions that conflict with what the last person said. The best dealerships are the ones I don't have to talk to anybody like Hendrick Lexus off of Independence Blvd.
Taco dropped, tools cleaned up, I get my insurance pictures so AAA can't get boned and redirect it to my grunt worker ant self, text the customer with a pic of his car "Delivered, No issues, Have a nice evening" and I'm on to my next call still ahead of time.
For all the "Why didn't yous" , "You should'ves", "Why don't you haves" "This is the right way" etc. You can come test your hypothesis after submitting a job application for AAA and make it happen with the bare minimum, barely equipped, and barely running trucks we have in our fleet of more than 70 vehicles serviced by only two in house techs. Shoulder sniffing and miscommunicated management/ dispatch is a bonus feature for your streamlined working shift pleasure.
Rear drum brakes are outdated and cheap, and anything saying TRD.... x, y, z.... that's not a car or CSUV should have 4x4 standard... Toyota's are still a good buy, but I'm disappointed in them pulling a GM move like this.
Most of these calls end up being jump starts, batteries are more often than not older than the newer vehicle they came in; and or the vehicle has been sitting on lot for a period of time draining the bat. Which is what I was thinking before I called the guy to find out the details and give my eta.
Get on the phone with the guy and ask him to describe the problem since those details never make it into the call notes for drivers given the telephone/technology game it is from call center, to dispatch, to driver. He's telling me the "vehicle locked up on him" first happened pulling into a parking lot, he turned it off then went into reverse to and it was driving fine as he pulled into a restaurant to get lunch. Gets out the restaurant and it does the same thing as he's pulling out of the parking lot onto the street at aprox. 15mph. Don't know why he thought it'd go away after time but I digress and keep my thoughts to myself.
I get on location which is the side of a road blocking one lane of a two lane street parallel to a shopping center; its Friday afternoon; there's plenty of traffic and people rushing to get home like they got a text saying "my parents are gone". After assuring the guy that I will take care of his most likely second most valuable and fastest depreciating asset that payments are still being made on. He grabs his personal items and hitches a ride home with the wife leaving me to work in peace.
We got ourselves a TRD SPORT OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (Maximum Pinky Extension), initial thoughts about the issue being he fat fingered a button for a 4x4 mode in the parking lot, diff lock, crawl mode etc. and the vehicle locked the wheels as a safety feature sensing it was on hard pavement and not a loose surface. I get hooked up aim the wheels jab it in neutral and get to winching only to discover that three of the four wheels are moving, the rear left not wanting to be a team player. So I hop inside said Taco and begin looking for the 4x4 controls for about 5 mins before realizing this 35K MSRP Cravings box is 4x2 after looking at the undercarriage, In addition to being 4x2 its got rear drum brakes......
I start talking to myself out loud about what a "GEM" this Meal Deal Taco is compared to my 91' Accord SE that has rear disc brakes, My 03' Dodge 2500 that has rear disc brakes, The F650 I drive that has rear disc brakes, just about if not all of our roll backs/wreckers including our largest Hino's have rear disc brakes. Then I start imagining the conversation that transpired between him and his wife prior to purchasing this vehicle.
Wife: "It doesn't need to be 4x4, you don't do anything on the weekends needing it and your not about to start with a 35K truck"
Husband: "If it can't be 4x4 then can we get x, y, z package?"
Wife : "Sure if we can get a discount on insurance from it"
End of Conversation.
The Taco had some tech package on it, it had adaptive lane control/assist/blind spot warning. I looked up the options for that model year as im writing this. But you know what I don't see as an option for the TRD SPORT? Rear disc brakes. Apparently that's a premium trim to upgrade from such outdated technology. So my thought about the issue moves to a pin or pivot point broke on the rear left drum and now the shoe is contacting the housing and wedging itself against the friction material. Executive decision being more winch, in Neutral, and leave it near the edge of the bed to make removal "Easier".
I pack up this Cravings Box for take out and I'm heading down to Toyota of Rock hill one of my least favorite dealerships by parking lot/ service area drop off design; One ways and narrow isles made for wreckers not roll backs. On the way down to Rock town I'm thinking about how I'm going to drop this Taco "gently" I know I can get it off, but the dealership is still open, and I don't like to be watched while I get intimate with paved surfaces and 10+ ton roll back unloading.
I arrive. Tech parking a car walks over to me as I pull up and asks if it starts, I say "oh yea, but the rear left drum is locked, only three wheels move in N" He then instructs me to drop it right across from the garage entrance so they can drag or push it in. Ok OJ, works for me. I do my thing and back it up with surgical precision and begin the deed....
I get the rear axle off the bed just as gravity unfriends me and friction darts in front of me like a "Nissan Altima driver" taking the last milliseconds of a yellow light leaving me in red. Taco is no longer moving. As a professional problem solver I get to thinking about my options given the circumstance. My plan is to go propose two unattractive options to the service advisors behind the pretty glass so that they provide me with a better one. Ugly option one: "Can I borrow a Tundra to snatch block and drag this taco off the edge of my bed into this spot" , Ugly option two: " I can get it off but im most likely going to damage or scrape up your concrete lot. I can back it farther into the spot get the rear axle off and walk my bed and truck out from underneath the taco after locking the E-Brake" (walking the bed involves using the edge of the bed as a foot peg, I angle the bed sharply towards the ground and lift the bed until my rear axle gets off the ground and walk the truck in or out with the hydraulic cylinders, out in this case and repeat this process as the front wheels roll off) I do this on the daily as the circumstance requires, and without damaging lots but my point is to get to option 3.
Everyone gets bug eyes at option 1 and option 2, until someone speaks up asking if I have skids......, to which I respond with a BS answer " yes but they're going to be too difficult to use in this situation given the vehicle is on an uneven surface" all the while thinking to myself : Why are you asking me to use skids, you aren't going to skid it in your garage, you're sure as hell not going to drag; I'm not about to lift an 60lb jack onto an angled surface to jack up a wheel and slide a skid underneath and do it again to get the skid back once it on the ground. Someone else speaks up "Can you use one of our dollies", Oh yeah option 3, "I sure can". I get the dolly and get the Taco into its space. Initially I leave the dolly on thinking they'll need it to move it inside the shop. So I grab the keys, lock up the Taco and get my bed tucked back in, walk over to the pretty glass windows with desks to hand over the keys and provide the contact info for the customer and the SA says to remove the dolly incase someone steals it overnight. I don't contest, I'm just happy to have it off. I walk back out to retrieve the dolly as a tech is walking out to put a tag in the window for it, he asks for the keys, I tell him the bearded man has them, he notices I'm removing the dolly and asks me to leave it on, I then explain that the SA wanted it back. I can't stand dropping off at dealerships that are still open because multiple people always want to but in and give me directions that conflict with what the last person said. The best dealerships are the ones I don't have to talk to anybody like Hendrick Lexus off of Independence Blvd.
Taco dropped, tools cleaned up, I get my insurance pictures so AAA can't get boned and redirect it to my grunt worker ant self, text the customer with a pic of his car "Delivered, No issues, Have a nice evening" and I'm on to my next call still ahead of time.
For all the "Why didn't yous" , "You should'ves", "Why don't you haves" "This is the right way" etc. You can come test your hypothesis after submitting a job application for AAA and make it happen with the bare minimum, barely equipped, and barely running trucks we have in our fleet of more than 70 vehicles serviced by only two in house techs. Shoulder sniffing and miscommunicated management/ dispatch is a bonus feature for your streamlined working shift pleasure.
Rear drum brakes are outdated and cheap, and anything saying TRD.... x, y, z.... that's not a car or CSUV should have 4x4 standard... Toyota's are still a good buy, but I'm disappointed in them pulling a GM move like this.
I'll be taking it out of service until I can get disc brakes swapped in. Thanks for bringing this to our attention