i have big hands & this filter is buried, its an 02 4x4 tacoma, its a bear from underneath & a bear through the passenger wheelwell, even with rubber flap removed, its a 2.7 4 cyl. would it help to remove the skid plate? is there a special tool? any ideas will be greatly appreciated, thanks

 

I dont know about tacos, but when I got my runner and did the first oil change, it was a real pain. The person always had it serviced at toyota and they like to wrench it back on really tight. None of the filter wrenches I found at the parts store would fit the OEM filter. After about 2 hours of frustration to get a stupid oil filter off, I ended up putting a long screw driver all the way through. It cranked right off then. It was a little messy but it was off. I hand tighten the filters on both my cars so that I can get it off w/o a wrench.

 

I just changed my oil last weekend and I think my hands were just small enough to fit through the cracks.

I don't know about accessing from the bottom as I REALLY didnt' feel like taking out the skid plate.
If you run a search you'll find a thread that discussed it just recently.

 

Yep, taking off both skid plates is the easy way. Trust me, I went through the same thing. I had an Exxon Valdez oil spill on my precious epoxied garage floor thanks to Toyota and their retarded filter location.

Just take the skid plates off.

 

 

MAN,

I agree about the placement of the filter being in a bad spot but thats been that way for a while now. I had a 1989 P/U and had it for 11 years. I have a 2001 Taco with the 4 banger and I believe its in the exact same spot as my 89. I have big hands too but I crawl behind the passenger tire and the truck is still high enough to get my creeper underneath. FYI- I am able to get the filter off no problem, before i begin to spin it off, I'll grab a plastic bag (the blue Walmart bags work great for this) and lay it open just underneath the filter, then when the filter is just about ready to drop the oil will be collected in the plastic bag, then i just drop the filter in the bag and walla, no mess!

Good Luck...

 

nice tip!
I'll have to try that next time.