15th Oct 2013, 16:42

The special tool you need to remove the brake drums on a Taurus is called a hammer.

16th Oct 2013, 01:23

Regardless if Toyota makes cars, houses, or whatever, their having the NO.1 best selling full size truck one day is just speculation.

I think the Toyota's in your family have reached high mileage due to proper maintenance. I have 150,000 miles on my GMC truck, and it performs as new, but I also meticulously maintain it.

17th Oct 2013, 18:10

There's no question that working on your own car has become far less common over the last few decades. I have seen evidence of this at my workplace, with new guys in their 20's who can't even use a wrench properly. This would have been almost unheard of 30 or more years ago, when most guys (and some women) fixed their own cars. I'm sure most of these guys don't own a single tool, and would have a hard time changing an air filter. Typical to hear them complain about paying hundreds to have a sensor replaced at a shop.

It's not feasible to me that such persons with so little mechanical aptitude could just read a shop manual and be able to do repairs on a late model. As a previous commentator stated, even very experienced mechanics find them problematic.