Rear drum brakes?

Flip a coin. Drums work off the race track, and under the towing loads the Tacoma can handle. It's annoying, but they work. Also they'll go 100k+ before needing to be swapped, so even though they're more expensive, they can be cheaper.

Front wouldn't work well, the front discs handle 70% of the braking as with most cars. But the rear, unless towing, they work fine.

 

Because money and they work well enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srgfr-5ghvE

 

I really like rear drum brakes, I never had any problems plus they maintain the rims/tires clean from brake dust etc. In fact, they last longer than disk brakes. However, I wont mind having disk as well.

 

My wife has a GMC Savanah High Top Explorer Conversion van (giant flat screen, giant leather captains chairs, the works)...it's her daily driver...You can imagine the gas mileage on hers! I stopped checking the mileage long ago...this is her 3rd High Top.

 

I would suggest going with the Honda Ridgeline instead, it has rear disks.

 

Wow, she daily drives that bad boy? She must really like it haha! My savanah gets like 8-9 mpgs, cannot kill that small block v8 tho.

 

You can fit 33 without rubbing.

 

It will be interesting to see what they install on the 2023 4th generation Tacoma. My hunch is that they swap over to rear disc brakes.

 

Hopefully they leave the frame rust so we still have some things to complain about.

 

Dont forget about the beloved entune system as well.

 

Stopping distance comparable to other mid size trucks and less maintenence. /discussion

 

I laugh when people say drum brakes are better for off-roading. Then why aren't they on Toyota's flagship off-roader in the Land Cruiser. Or the 4Runner? Or even the late FJ Cruiser? Toyota is just cheaping out on the Tacoma.

 

Even with rear drums, the Tacoma has some of the best brakes on the market: stopping from 60-0 in 124ft compared to averages of 136ft for mid-size trucks and 142ft for full-size trucks.

They're so good that edmunds complains they stop the truck too fast: https://www.edmunds.com/toyota/tacoma/2018/review/

> the brakes tend toward touchy and overeager, making it hard to execute smooth stops.

So, yeah, discs would be better, but so would carbon ceramic.

 

Unless you disable ABS, this unit of measure is really hard to tell value on anymore.

Once the brakes are locked (easy w/o ABS) on any vehicle, tires are it for grip/stopping distance. Then factor in vehicle weight, balance, suspension.

So a stopping distance test with same tire type and no ABS then tells you something about the truck, assuming same driver and road surface.

Adding ABS back in eliminates a driver who can't modulate and I suppose some measure of ABS function, but I can't imagine them being too different. Never seen an ad for 'performance ABS module'.

 

What causes you to think the 4th gen will be so early? 10 yrs was the trend for 1st and 2nd gens.

Maybe a 3rd gen refresh like the '12's were in 2nd gen.

 

There can be all kinds of what ifs about this, but what I typically see are situations like this:


Unless folks are bogging through mud, which has its own issues that disks versus drums are not going to solve, I mostly see the front wheels being a lot less loaded than the rears. This is true in snow / slush, off road, and such. So with all that kick up, there is more that could get caught in a caliper.

For SUVs, there are usually steps for other stuff that hangs down lower, which may give less kick up.

Just my own guess from what I see out there.

I am sorry, but this is untrue. Almost all rear disk systems also have a full drum brake under the hat in the rotor that functions as the parking brake. Only a few cars use a special caliper that is also a parking brake. I was surprised to see that the Mazda 3 that we recently bought has this. Mazda tends to take weight pretty seriously though.

 

It has to do with the platform shift for all the body on frame models. A user in the 2020 sticky went through the details of it. @Carmaker1 , I think?

 

Towing a 5000 lbs trailer? Might reconsider the 3rd gen. Even though it can definitely tow a little above that, youll soon find out it’s not happy doing that. A tundra towing that would approximately get you better mpg . A tundra would be your best bet.

 

LOL - she loves it yes! I'm OK with it - it is an AWD model, but it has low profile tires and a lot of flash...not my style. We live in a rural area - so no parking issues - and she is a stay at home mom, not a ton of miles. She trades every 3-4 years, so it should last for that. I'm trying to talk her into a Land Cruiser (used to have them) or the LX (I think) Lexus next - she almost did it last time but she still had 3 teenagers at home so she enjoys the extra room. I have an old Tahoe - with the same engine I think...had it forever (it's a 2005) - gave it to my son. It has 165K on it and it drives great and still looks good - we use it for everything around the farm and honestly I LOVE driving it still.