I really like my new to me '17 Tundra. I have the 4 door with the 6.5' bed, it's just what I needed. Liked everything about it til I went to change the oil one day last week. Brought home a couple gallons of super slick oil and a filter. Drove it up on some blocks in the shop, dropped the old oil in a pan without spilling one drop, that's a first. Rolled around under it for a couple minutes looking for the filter........? Looked on the topside........? Went in to the you-tube. Found it! Pulled the skid plate off, no luck getting my strap wrench on the housing. Off to the parts store 15 miles away to pick up a handy little Pennzoil filter wrench built for the job. Stripped out the 3/8 drive hole in it without so much as budging the housing. Then couldn't get the handy little Pennzoil filter wrench off the housing and proceeded to punch a hole in the side of the housing. Off to the parts store again to see if they had a new housing and possibly another handy Pennzoil filter wrench. Nope. Drove another 30 miles to the big town, Omaha, and found what I needed. Back home and back to the youtube. Lots of intel on stuck oil filter housings for the Tundra, apparently not one of Toyotas best design ideas. Tapped around on the housing base with a long skinny piece of wood and on one of the fins on the side of it and finally did break it loose. The new handy little Pennzoil filter wrench worked well, they especially work well when the housing isn't put on with several hundred ft/lbs of torque. Replaced the housing, skid plate, and 2 gallons of oil. Ran it for a while and let it sit for an hour or so whilst cleaning up the shop. Checked the oil and it was still about 3/4 of a quart low, topped that off and was back on the road again.
The first time I changed the oil on my '10 Taco I spent a few minutes rolling around under it looking for the filter with no luck. Went topside and found the thing staring at me right next to my right hand. I said to myself, "self, what a brilliant design." This was my very first Toyota pickup and I thought these guys really got it together making life easier for the guy who likes to change his own oil. The design of this Tundra oil filter system is definitely a step back.
