Tacoma moneypit or easy fix?

This. In fact Id' say if brake his pedal isn't mushy maybe he does have a problem with his brakes. ;-) Mushy brake pedal is my single biggest complaint about my 2009. My GF who normally drives a Honda CRV even remarked on it after taking the wheel for a stint on our most recent long road trip.

I wonder if there is a real fix. I'd be happy to spend some $$ on it. Already did metal brake hoses which IMO are snake oil. But I had to try it. I wonder if 3rd gen master cylinder would help... and wonder if it would fit?

 

A lot of the brake feel is the anti lock system. They stop fine.

 

Maybe. But all my other vehicles for the last 25 years have had ABS and none were even slightly mushy.

 

Apparently there are two versions of the brake booster on 2nd gens, and this may explain the differences in how folks feel about their brakes.

Mine has a conventional vacuum booster, with a separate ABS module. And it sucks -- not just literally. I don't mean to claim it's insanely dangerous or anything, just that tremendous foot pressure is required to stop the vehicle in a panic situation, before the ABS kicks in at all. Before that point, ABS has nothing to do with it. It's just a shitty braking setup, with a mushy pedal that doesn't inspire confidence. Of course, once ABS does kick in, you're stopping as fast as traction allows, and since you can mash the pedal down hard enough to trigger ABS on dry pavement, it can be argued that these brakes are thus adequate. But if you've driven a car with better brakes (e.g., any car with 4-wheel discs), then you know that the brakes on Tacomas suck compared to those. Good brakes allow for quick and predictive modulation of stopping force, and we don't get that with vacuum boosted Tacoma brakes. And no, stainless brake lines don't fix this problem.

The other option is an electronic brake booster, which might also be integrated with the ABS module, or perhaps it's separate, I don't know. I've never driven a Tacoma with this setup, but folks seem to report much better braking performance. And I wish my truck had this!

But with either brake setup, I'm going to argue once again that drum brakes suck, and express irritation that Toyota uses them exclusively on all Tacomas to this day. Sure, drums are generally adequate, but it doesn't mean they don't suck. I've driven several pickups over the years, of several different makes. Those with drums were universally worse than those with rear discs. Most other truck models however at least offer rear discs, making it somewhat easy to upgrade the drum brakes with junkyard parts if you want. But Toyota has never offered rear discs for Tacomas, so as far as I know, our only options are extremely costly aftermarket retrofits, or replacing the whole axle.

As an example of how the Tacoma brakes can let you down, imagine you're driving up extremely steep mountainous terrain. It's late summer, but you're at elevation and are still encountering snow and snowmelt... lots of water crossings as you go. Working your way up a particularly steep ascent, a boulder shifts beneath your tires just as you've let off the throttle, thinking you had climbed it, and the sudden rearward motion stalls the engine. Now you're rolling backwards out of control, with no power steering, so you mash that brake pedal as hard as you possibly can. To your horror, you find that your brake pedal is utterly incapable of arresting your descent! You pull on the steering wheel for dear life, legs straight, butt in the air... all the force you can muster and then some, yet still you roll backwards. You have to either ride it out, trying to steer your way safely back to more level terrain, or risk releasing your death-grip on the wheel to throw this shifter into park.

It turns out that drum brakes are basically useless in reverse, especially when wet. And while it's true that your front brakes do most of the work in normal stopping, when you're sliding backwards down a 40-degree slope, only your rear brakes can stop you.

"Fuck," you think, "I gotta get better brakes on this truck!"

Of course when you get home and research your options, you realize you can't afford them, so you decide to be more careful to dry the brakes after water crossings, and to avoid stalling the engine like an idiot. But it will happen again, because your truck simply has inadequate brakes for this specific situation, and you like driving on roads that lead to this specific situation.

Well, this has been my personal experience with Tacoma brakes. And I personally wish my truck came with brakes that weren't just adequate for stopping on dry pavement, but which worked reliably in all conditions I encounter.

As a closing argument against drum brakes: Check the calendar, Toyota... it's 2022!

 

Update for anyone still following: Shop has had my truck and taken a look inside the differential. Most bearings were very stiff, some gears showed signs of excess heat buildup, and my carrier had a crack in it.
As stated previously, the truck was about 1/2 quart low on fluid when I got it, fluid was very metallic, and hadn’t been changed in awhile. Previous owner also did a lot of towing. We’re not sure how the carrier was cracked, but it is. Owner of shop recommended that an entire rear axle assembly with differential be purchased and swapped in place of old. This option was chosen because it is cheaper from a labor standpoint to just drag and drop a completed assembly instead of buying all new pieces and re-gearing, shimming, and pressing in bearings and whatnot. I agreed with recommendation and am opting to purchase a brand new rear axle assembly as opposed to purchasing a used junk yard assembly. Do not want to run into the same problem again. Cost when it’s all said and done will range between 3600-4600 depending on how cheap I can find the differential from a Toyota dealer.

 

Very well said.

I've considered doing the rear disc retrofit, but I need to keep telling myself I bought the truck to use as a truck. I've always been one to go bonkers on modifications. Not this time. Except the hurst core short shifter, adm, and sound system. Also the urd fuel pump & filter waiting for me to do it.

 

I totally respect your decision to go new here, and agree it will be the most reliable option.

But I just wanted to point out, you could get a junkyard axle and have it totally rebuilt with a higher gear ratio for less than that budget -- all new seals and bearings, heck you could have it powdercoated for that amount. If you tow or ever plan to run larger tires, stepping up from factory 3.73 gear ratio is a nice improvement. I went to 4.56 and am quite pleased, although I run 33" tires and have a thousand pounds of crap between my gear and the goofy add-on stuff.

Either way, I think we've answered your original question:

Definitely a money pit!

It's the way of TW.

 

appreciate the response. Just hoping this will be the first and only major overhaul needed. Purchased this truck at only 68k miles thinking itd be pretty well sorted. Boy was I wrong.. just goes to show: Toyota or not, some idiot before you can ruin your day.
Anyways, I honestly don’t know enough about differentials at this point to make the decision on what to go for by myself. I just need the truck back so I can stop borrowing family cars. Been without it for about 2 weeks now. I understand that I could use the opportunity to upgrade but I don’t plan to haul heavy with it. Just need it to carry my tools in the bed and get me where I’m going. I contemplated just driving it until the differential decides to crap out and then go ahead and get it fixed, but I’m pretty concerned about what that could possibly do to the driveshaft and transmission over time, considering it’s all connected. It’s pretty steep for me, financially, to do this. I can barely afford it but I know I’ll probably look back on it later and be glad I took this route as opposed to turning the radio up and ignoring it.

 

Good call, don't drive on failing gears -- could damage all those things you mentioned, and also could cause a wreck!