Pitman And Idler Arm Question

[Camacho_05SS]

Well I took my 05 SSS to Les Schwabs to get an alignment. I was told that my pitman and idler arms need to get replaced. They wanted to charge me a fortune. I want to take to the dealer and see if they can replace the parts required under my warranty. I have a pretty good drop on the truck, 2" front 3.5" rear, the guy at Les Schwab told me the problems were do to normal wear and tear of the vehicle and the drop has no affect on it. Does anyone know if the dealer will fix this or will they say it's due to the drop which voided the warranty on the suspension? Has anyone else had this problem with these trucks? If so, what action did you guys take? Thanks

[dkkustoms]

Depends on the dealership. When I bought my truck it had upgrades done to it, one of which was a Radix setup. I also got the extended warranty. When the tranny went out the dealership where I live said it wasn't under warranty. The dealership that sold it to me, several hundred miles away, told me that it was. They also found a local dealership that would take care of me if I had any other problems in the future. So it all depends. If they give you a hard time about it, look into the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. If I remember correctly part of it basically says that your warranty cannot be voided simply because you used after-market parts. In order for the worn or broken parts not to be covered under warranty it must be proven that the defect directly resulted from the use of non OEM part.

[Camacho_05SS]

Thanks. I actually had my truck at the dealer for another reason. I asked them to inspect the front suspension too. The guy at the dealership told me everything was in great shape and there was no need to replace anything. I did ask him what would void the warranty and he said exactly what you did. Only if it is proven that the aftermarket parts caused the damage then it wouldn't be covered. I think Les Schwab just wanted to squeeze me for some dough. So all in all it ended up costing me $50 for the check instead of $1000 for all the stuff I didn't even need. I guess it worked out in the end.

[dkkustoms]

Good to hear. Yeah those places will rape you if you let them. When my older brother got his first car Midas took him to the cleaners for two grand. Told him he needed all new calipers, rotors, busings, bearings, springs, struts, basically rebuild the entire front end of his car. He didn't know any better so he said ok. I nearly passed out when he told me what he had done.