TUNDRA BRAKE UPGRADE PROBLEMS?

Well they gave me $90 back (for each I think) for some shot out calipers with seized pins. I wouldn't have sold those to a member in that condition, especially when you can do a Tundra swap cheap enough.

 

No issues after 12+ years/~150k miles on ebay'd WE199mm calipers and the Wheeler's steel lines upgrade, front and rear. Always a solid pedal. I bought what rock auto claimed to be the last of the Brembo blank rotors. Got about 100k out of them. No holes or slashes. I'm on another set of unknown blanks now. Stock Toyota pads. I was careful to not let the fluid totally drain out and we were able to bleed them rear to front with my brother pushing the pedal. We flushed the entire system starting at the proportioning valve. Terrific upgrade. I don't feel the need to upgrade to the WL caliper unless there gets to be a shortage of parts for them. I mostly run it empty as a daily driver, with loaded trips to the Sierras or Baja a few times a year.

 

Finally got around to installing them and 2 days later went to Moab to put them through their paces! They are a must if you have anything above stock sized tires. No more jamming the pedal into the firewall with all of your weight to gently come down a ledge or rock! So much more controlled. 10/10 recommend! Install was super straight forward besides the hardline being a huge pain behind the frame considering the nut was seized on the passenger side. Installed the adventuretaco braided adapter lines and the work like a charm.

 

Came here to get confirmation. Mine have soft pedal but we didn't blead/didn't know about the proportion valve portion. Looking forward to doing a proper bleed and getting a stiffer pedal.

 

Still a softer pedal than you’d have with stock but that’s to be expected with bigger brakes and the same master cylinder. It’s not so soft that it’s intimidating or sketchy to me at all. The biggest thing that helped the pedal feel was adjusting the rear drums ensuring they were actually doing something too!

 

Yeah mine feels like stock (maybe a bit harder) and brakes so much better. I bled mine 3 times at each location and repeated it I think 6 times. Might have been overkill but I wanted it done right.

 

Pedal should feel about the same. 1st gen tundras had the same master setup and rear brakes as 1st gen tundras. (Unless they had VSC)

 

I've heard different results with the tundra upgrade depending on the year tacoma?
The earlier tacoma had a different master cylinder.
Is this true that there are issues will the upgrade with the earlier tacoma? With the earlier style master cylinder?
I read one post on a 1996 that there was a smalll different and a soft pedal and wasn't happy with the trundle swap

 

The 4 bolt master may be an issue? But t100 masters have been the fix for some tundra guys going for 14wa calipers. So a swap to a different master may help older tacos


Granted the tundra t100 swap also means t100 dual Booster

 

Thats kind of a bummer, but not much. If an Autox/sporty car it would be 100% unacceptable to me, but being my 'soft' daily driver I don't mind as much, and the major part is the actually gain in capacity. On the OEM setup with heavy stealies, larger tires, camping weight I hade big BIG brake fade coming back down a mountain pass freeway, approaching what felt like near failure. I haven't been able to replicate that with the Tundras. I'll take a softer feel knowing it won't heat soak like that again.

This is reassuring, but like above I'm not too bummed if I don't get a very firm fix.

 

Is there a good thread on this or maybe a @Timmah! tutorial on what the factory process is to ensure this is as balanced as possible?

 

I have never had any issues then I always replace all the drum hardware in a new to me Toyota4x4

I only ever back the adjusters off to remove the drums

 

Just piping in here to say that I’m doing this upgrade right now and the calipers I bought (

$142 A-Premium Disc Brake Caliper Assembly Compatible with Toyota Models - Sequoia 2001-2007, Tundra 2000-2006, 4Runner 2003-2005, Fit with Casting #13WL - Front Driver and Passenger Side

A-Premium Front Wheel Disc Brake Caliper Compatible with Toyota 4Runner 2003-2005 Sequoia 2001-2007 Tundra 2000-2006) are 1/8” thinner at the bolt point than my OEM taco calipers and my 17mm bolts feel like they are bottoming out before I am able to get the calipers tight enough. Not sure if anyone else has encountered this.

 

I did the upgrade to Powerstop calipers a few weeks ago and the other day I noticed the same thing. It's like the bolt is a hair too long or a washer is missing. My plan is to add a thin washer to both caliper bolts to keep it straight.

 

Good to know! I’m ordering a set of Napa calipers to try first (I’d read in another thread that they are better quality reman) but if they’re the same, will just end up adding washers probably.

 

I’m going to add to this thread too. I just got done with this upgrade, and I am having pretty significant soft pedal, enough that it makes me uncomfortable; grabbing at maybe 75% brake pedal travel.

I have a ‘99 4x4, used adventure tacos hardline kit, oem rotors, oem brake pads, A-Premium #13WL calipers

$142 A-Premium Disc Brake Caliper Assembly Compatible with Toyota Models - Sequoia 2001-2007, Tundra 2000-2006, 4Runner 2003-2005, Fit with Casting #13WL - Front Driver and Passenger Side

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TV352WX
I bled furthest to closest through two cycles, went out and bedded the brakes, then took it to a brake shop for a vacuum bleeding. Still the peddle is soft enough that it makes me think it’s not going to stop until it suddenly engages, zero pressure until 75%.
Not really sure what else I can do to it at this point, it doesn’t feel squishy like I’ve got a bubble, it just travels so far with zero pressure and then grabs all of the sudden. I thought I had F’d it up until the brake shop did their thing and had the same results.

 

Have to adjusted the rears? Sounds to me like you're having to push brake fluid until you get engagement on all four corners, and if the rears are out of adjustment, you end up with a bunch more pedal travel.

This is less of an issue with the OEM front calipers b/c they require less fluid to actuate the pistons. Once you need more fluid up front, you really need to be sure the rears are adjusted properly, since you can't "waste" fluid back there anymore.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I haven’t done anything with the rears. I’ll replace the drum pads and readjust and see if that firms it up. I’ll be amazed if it takes that much travel out, but I’ve done Everything I can think of so I’m willing to give it a go. Much appreciated

 

On our trucks the rear shoes need manual adjustment from time to time even though they’re designed to self adjust

 

Mine is pretty soft too, supposedly there is a rear brake line bleeder that is up high, above the diff or something like that that a lot of people overlook- I've been meaning to bleed mine again after finding it.