Tackling my brakes and need a little guidance ..

Thanks in advance for giving this a shot ..

I've had my '03 Taco (reg. cab, 2WD, 4 cyl) for about two years now and it's time to do a brake job. I've changed disc brakes before, just not on a Taco, and these are something I haven't seen before.

It appears to be a four-piston type arrangement like many I've seen on this forum and on youtube, however, I don't have the two-pin and wire retaining plate that the systems I've seen here have. Likewise I don't see anywhere on the caliper to attach a clamp to depress pistons in the more traditional method.

I've read in several places here that people are swapping out their Taco disc brakes for Tundra counterparts and I'm beginning to wonder if that's not what may have happened on this truck.

If anyone can help me identify this system and/or point me to a better reference for tackling this job, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Also, I'm going to be working through my first shoe replacement on this one as well and any pearls of wisdom are more than welcome.

Thanks again!

 

You have to take the pins out (hex head bolts) which will release a bracket that sits around the caliper. Once you've removed the pins & bracket, you can use a c-clamp to compress the pistons flat.

If I remember correctly that is....It's been many many years since I worked on my old 96....

 

You must have a 2.4L engine. That's definitely not a 4-piston fixed caliper, it's a single piston floating caliper and everything that Janster said is correct. Floating calipers are in two pieces: a mounting frame that bolts to the spindle, and a piston bracket that bolts to the mounting frame. The bracket-to-frame bolts are called pins (the entire bracket slides back and forth on them) and once you remove those pins, you pull the bracket off and remove the pads. The piston is easy to compress at that point.

 

Under brake wright {sic} ups there are two videos

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1s...y-how-thread-compiled-list-helpful-links.html

 

Got it all figured out, folks, thanks. I just didn't recognize what I was seeing and didn't want to risk screwing something up I couldn't fix.

Front discs went in this morning without any problems.

Thanks Again!