Rear disc brake swap

Braking upgrades are never a waste of money as they increase safety, end of story.

 

$ is a question for @jeffz0rz , thanks we put a lot of thought into that exact idea...how to do a link set up without penetrating the bed and just a space saver style bed cage[/QUOTE]

Bitchin, probably the cleanest build I've seen on a Tacoma. Great job keeping a semi-stock look that is anything but stock.

 

Drums rears are a cost saving measure. And you get what you pay for. Drums don't shed hest nearly as well as discs. Also clamping force is far greater on a disc brake. Ask yourself if your brake system failed and you needed to rely on the emergency brake what you would rather have stopping you.

 

Yup. No emergency brake, if the shoes have worn off through sediment/age, components failed(rare), or bearing seal leaks, (Ask @memario1214 about those seals, or myself). As the drum shoes and e-brake shoes are one and the same.

 

I'm satisfied with the braking performance of my rig. But, yeah...rear disc brakes would be nice.

If you use Toyota's logic....you should never take a 4Runner, FJ, Tundra, Sequoia or Land Cruiser off road.

The drums scream cost savings to me. But hey....they work just fine. So...

 

Great quote. Toyota JP undsrstands things that U.S. overlooks.

 

The 4Runner has rear disks, but the E brakes are internal drums anyway, so same thing in that situation.

 

Not saying you're wrong, but sometimes there's a lot more to an 'upgrade' than what first appears. Like the fact that in upgrading the rear brakes you're likely to quickly overwhelm rear tire traction, causing the rear tires to skid normally during breaking and possibly making stopping distances longer. It's not about braking power in this case, it's weight distribution. Theres not enough weight over the rear during normal driving to justify a brake upgrade for a Tacomas rear brakes. I don't think the money spent on rear brakes would be nearly justified, and I would think if your front suspension can handle it then upgrading to a tundra front brake system would be a more worthwhile endeavor and likely to provide a LOT more stopping power rather than rears which might or might not even help. Plus Toyota drums are known to last close to forever, while I already did my first brake upgrades on my FRONT brakes (at 30k miles) including EBC greenstuff supreme truck compound pads and some cryo treated rotors for added strength and life expectancy. Guess that's what I get for going out to do rally truck shit when it snows! TBH youll likely get the brake upgrade you desire out of just swapping out your rubber brake lines for SS ones if you haven't done that yet, was one of my first mods to my taco.

 

I was told by

Aaaand again someone with a bone stock truck assuming they understand the situation and need for upgraded rear brakes...

1. " overwhelming rear tire traction " - no wrong ABS is still engaged & see #2 below.

2. " not enough weight over the rear end " - bullshit, that is exactly why we want better rear brakes. Some of us have 500lbs + of aftermarket add on's over our rear axles daily driving.

3. " stainless brake lines " - don't do shit except improve pedal feel a bit, your abs system is still controlling fluid pressure to each wheel. ...and before you try to argue that one know this - I have custom Crown Performance Kevlar brake lines on all 4 corners so I speak from experience.

 

Which type of failure would need to be defined, on the drums. Shoe friction material failure, axle seal leak causing gear oil saturation failure, drum mechanical components failure, hydraulic line failure in the drum causing a saturation of the shoes, or some other brake line failure......

In most of those styles of failure, the e-brake nor normal hydraulic operation would work. Take out one, you take out the other.

 

Bone stock? I mean sure mines not dipped in gold but it's got 10 grand in work done easy so far so why don't you lay off the offensive shit.

I never said anything about your truck.

If you have 500 lbs in add ons ONLY over the rear axle then sure you're getting closer to 50/50 distribution. If you have just as big a front bumper as you do a rear, then you likely haven't changed the weight distribution at all, if you haven't made it worse since most aftermarket front bumpers are heavier than rears. In this case, it would still make more sense to spend the money upgrading the front brakes to as good as they can be rather than spending any money in the back. I have had to do plenty of towing taking my buddy's boat out and have never once felt like I might need more rear brakes. The front brakes on the other hand used to slip and grind if you had to lay into them while towing because they would get overwhelmed by the forces they were taking, butg upgrading to cryo treated rotors and new pads got rid of all that. I really don't understand what you're complaining about because a "bone stock" truck with a boat is still a hell of a lot heavier than a truck with a pair of big steel bumpers. But what do I know, I'm only trying to race my truck in the Baja, I wouldn't know anything about brakes.

 

I wonder how this conversation would look, if the Tacoma came with disk rears, like its brethren?

"Rear Drum swap? Who's done it?"

 

probably about the same, the only thing Ive really said so far is it doesnt make sense to spend money on rear brakes when the truck already comes with whatever it comes with, when really a front brake uprade will be significantly more noticeable on a vehicle that has at least a 60-40 weight distribution. If it did have rear discs then great, but since it does come with rear drums it still doesnt matter a whole lot. The rear brakes are still at most 40% of a trucks braking power due to the weight distribution, and in reality it gets more skewed than that due to soft suspension and bushings and things like that allowing the truck to pitch and yaw during braking and accelerating. All of that pitching during braking would be in favor of the front brakes though, mechanically giving them an advantage by transferring weight over the front tires and bringing them in better contact with the ground.

 

6 pistons up front. Sadly only single pistons out back. Got wobbly knees from being able to late brake so much better, after installation of the rear disks.

 

I hear the 2018 tacos are coming with drums on all four corners...

 

I wouldn't be surprised. Next instead of just the bed being made of plastic they will make the entire truck out of plastic. Would solve their rust problem.

 

I honestly can't believe there are still people arguing that drum brakes are better than disks. Do you now why Toyota used and still uses them? They're cheap! It's that simple. Show me a performance car with drum brakes. You won't find one because disks are superior in every way except price. FYI disk brakes are far easier to modulate at threshold than drums so they are far less likely to lock up and stay locked if your abs doesn't work. I road and ice race and I would never run with drums on the road or on the street. It's just common sense, better brakes are safer end of story. If you argue against them you're just too cheap or too broke to do the swap and your trying to justify it to yourself and others. And @stevotivo12 you are talking out your ass, you clearly do t know how a brake system or abs system functions or the actual physics of a vehicle during braking so stop giving bad advise please.

 

Now it's getting good.