Toyota went and screwed me! Since the time of the first F-series engine, the Land Cruiser oil filter has always been the gigantic Foster’s Lager can-sized 15600-41010, but this year, they discontinued that filter and introduced a new smaller 90915-YZZD3 filter that fits the same threaded spud. The original filter extended in diameter at least a centimeter past the seating o-ring, but the new one ends at the o-ring, so it is significantly smaller. The new filter has all the same quality touches, like the anti-backflow flapper that keeps oil primed in the upper system and super-fine filtering material, but it requires a new SST. I asked Clyde at Toyota Parts, and he said there was no new official Toyota SST. My old filter wrench was an official Toyota part, 09228-44011. I figured that since the new filter was common to all gasoline Land Cruisers and a bunch of larger Toyotas including the V8 models, finding a third-party cap-style wrench would be no problem.
Wrong! The new filter is 73m x 14-flutes. The more common Toyota filter is 74mm x 14. WTF?! Why didn’t they make them the same outer size with different threads? Really, WTF?! I spun by NAPA – they had a 74mm x 15. Nope. Various locations of Checker had 3 out of 7 different sizes of molded plastic wrenches in a haphazard mess, but none were the appropriate size. There is a specific Assenmacher Specialty Tool aluminum wrench for this size (AST # TOY730), but nobody had this locally. I figured I’d be limited to waiting for Checker to eventually get in the correct size, or get some adjustable wrench.
Now how hard can it be to get an adjustable oil filter wrench? I dropped by Sears and looked at the Craftsman version. There was a 3/8”-drive socket hole on a pinion that drove two opposing racks together to clamp jaws in on the top of the filter when the ratchet was turned in the loosen direction. The jaws would open when the wrench was turned in the tighten direction. WTF!? Now why the heck would I need a wrench to remove an oil filter when the tightest I could ever get it was hand-tight since the tool was incapable of tightening? A quick search online revealed a bunch of rack-clamp and rotating passive 3-arm adjustable wrenches, but all of them worked only to loosen.
Except one. I found this one on Amazon for $12.52 USD. Even with selecting the slow “free shipping” option, it still arrived quickly – shipped on Friday, arrived on Monday. Made in the USA! The center takes either a 3/8”-drive wrench inside, or a ¾” wrench (socket or otherwise) on the outside. The center piece has gear teeth that engage gear teeth on the three clamping arms. The arms work both ways! You can both tighten and loosen a filter with this wrench.
The clamping arms have a rough burr on the clamping edges that are supposed to dig into the filter and provide grip to turn it. This does tend to mar the finish on the filter. Not like I really care, but corrosion is an issue here, so even if the filter is changed regularly, it would be nice if between changes it didn’t get all rusty. Hopefully the protective film of crud that develops on the filter will protect it from the elements.
After bike riding yesterday, I changed out the filters. No problems. Filter fit fine. Wrench worked perfectly. It does help if you hold the filter so that the ends of the arms don’t extend past the ends of the flutes on the filter body – that way they engage the flats and not try to grab on the cylindrical part of the filter body.
Tool highly recommended. Buy here
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