Dealer or local LC specialist for maintenance repairs?

[oftpiste]

Have a few items to cover to continue trying to baseline my new-to-me LC as I keep learning by reading here. These items include:

Fluid(s)- Oil, diffs, xfer case, tranny, and filter(s) changes/refreshing.

Checking/tightening suspension linkages, possible bushing replacements

Torsion bar torquing

Alignment



It seems there's a sense that dealers are the way to go, but my experience with dealers is that they're sometimes reluctant to perform anything that might be considered non-standard like torsion bar torquing.

What about using Jiffy-Libe and the like for the fluids?

I'm not much of a wrench and don't really have a good place to do stuff so am reluctant to do some of these as I don't want to cause more problems than I repair.

What say you, collective?

 

[yeti in ga]

if your in a hurry use the Dealer sometimes they even offer coupons... but at least they will use toyota stuff and have a history with these trucks. vs Jiffy Libe or any side of the road places. (which I am not a fan of)

Find someone in your area to help with the Torsion Bar Torquing.

 

[PIPO]

Drop it off at my place; I'm cheap . I can do all that, well except the alignment.

 

[stonepa]

Fluids and filters? Local tire place. Mechanical / tune up? Toyota dealer. It's worked well for both my 100 and my 4Runner. My FJ60 I have to work on myself after the manual choke scared off one of the ASE certified repair guys at the dealer.

 

[oftpiste]

Drop it off at my place; I'm cheap . I can do all that, well except the alignment.

.......well if ya weren't all the way down in Yelm!

 

[Sandroad]

I'd say one important thing is to get a history of any place you might be considering, dealer or otherwise. There's a huge variation in dealers. One in my area doesn't even use Toyota brand parts and does lousy quality work; the other is great and provides a Toyota brand parts discount to me too). So, get some inside info before trusting your LC to anyone.