Brake issues

Hey guys new member long time looker I guess you could say. Anyways I have some questions so I decided to join to pick you guys brains. I have a 98 sr5 v6 auto truck for starters but I have recently ran into some issues that I just can’t get pinpointed. The abs light popped up on me a couple of times intermittently a buddy of mine that I work with has a mechanic shop as his side business so I took the truck to him to replace the leaking rear axle seals and check the brakes. Long story short after lots of parts including a new master cylinder booster and lots of hours the brakes still do not seem any better. We pulled the fuse to the abs module to rule out the possibility of the bad solder joints I had read about, and no change in pedal feel or braking power. Only thing that hasn’t been changed so far is the rear pads we cleaned with brake cleaner and scuffed with a pad and they looked fine, could they still be the issue or is there anything else I should check? Thanks in advance guys!

 

Welcome aboard

 

Whats the brake pedal feel like now? Or is the ABS light the only issue?

 

Abs light hasn’t came back on but pedal feels normal until about half way and then gets stiff, but doesn’t seem to stop any harder. The rear drakes we’re adjusted before reassembly following the seal install. It almost seems to me like the rear pads are maxed out on adjustment but still not grabbing if that’s even possible, and the reason I say that is because the emergency brake doesn’t even seem to grab.

 

first thing is adjust the rear brakes. If there is too much clearance between the rear shoes and drum the first portion of pedal travel will be in expanding the rear shoes to the drum. The next is the bleeding process. I would do the rears first and do not forget about the load proportioning valve bleed screw... drivers side rear, follow the line, you will find it. Then bleed the front.

 

You should have replaced the brake shoes. The gear oil gets impregnated into the shoes and you can't get it out. If you don't replace the shoes, your rear brakes will never be as good. Secondly, to adjust your brakes properly, pull the emergency brake over and over again until it tightens up. The rear brakes stay adjusted by using the parking brake regularly. The parking brake cable pulls on the bell cranks at the backs of the backing plates, which in turn pull on a cable that is attached to the parking brake lever which has a self adjuster plate attached to it. The self adjuster plate rests against the star wheel of the adjuster. If you pull the parking brake and there's enough movement in the parking brake lever that the adjuster plate can catch the next tooth, when you release the emergency brake lever it will turn the adjuster wheel and push the shoes a little closer to the drum. At some point, pulling the parking brake doesn't move the parking brake lever enough for the adjuster plate to grab another tooth which means the brakes are fully adjusted to spec.

If you want a visual of what I'm talking about, watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/IJkVEBYSecs

 

Thanks guys we did install new pads in the rear last night and the brakes seemed to get slightly better. We didn’t know about bleeding the proportioning valve though going to check and see if maybe a small bit of air might me trapped there. And thanks for clearing up the parking brake adjustment we were both under the assumption the rears self adjusted when you used the brakes in reverse. I’m starting to think the factory braking system is undersized junk though as I don’t feel like it could effectively stop me in an emergency situation, but that could just be due to the larger tires and such that I have on the vehicle.

 

Did the brakes get tighter as you pulled the emergency brake lever over and over again? It should have unless possibly your bell cranks are frozen.

Another thing I forgot to ask is if your lifted. When you do a suspension lift, the emergency brake will benefit from a lift bracket installed on the axle housing. Without the lift bracket, your parking brake cable system won't pull evenly to both sides as before. Raising the attachment point up a couple inches helps. I know Toytec provides one as part of their lift kits but you could easily make one yourself.

The proper sequence for bleeding the brakes if you have a LSPV (Load Sensing Proportioning Valve) is as follows:
1) Right Rear
2) Left Rear
3) Right Front
4) Left Front
5) Finally the LSPV

The LSPV should be the last one you bleed and not after doing the two rear wheels like somebody mentioned.

In this video starting at play time 2:42, I show pages out of my 2000 4runner factory service manual that relate to bleeding the brakes.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rnyK3V-OGn4

 

This might be related. I have a '97 4Runner which is the same system you have. My son drives it but one day I drove it. I was terrified. You really had to horse down on the brakes to stop. This scared me. I took the truck to a open church parking lot. Will all the muster I have I could never skid the tires or get the ABS to engage. My ABS light was never on though. I replaced all 4 brake shoes, master cylinder, and even the vacuum assist. I spend some serious coin on that. I didn't have any leakage at the slave cylinders. I just couldn't get the brakes to stop like when new. I finally took it to a mechanic shop that I trust. They ended up doing something I should have. They brush, cleaned, lubed all the moving parts on both the disk and drum components. They made sure all the rust was removed and things glided where they should. Now the sucker will lock those tires and the ABS screams when needed.

 

Yes it is lifted and I have the relocation bracket installed. The e brake handle definitely has gotten tighter. I drove it again today and finally was able to get the abs light to kick back on when I pulled the code it was 32 which should be the left front wheel speed sensor. Have one ordered should be here sometime tomorrow. The weird thing is that the truck would stop harder and the pedal felt better with the abs light on then without. Hopefully the speed sensor is the last piece to the puzzle because I’m tired of throwing parts at it. Thanks for all your help though fellas it’s greatly appreciated!!

 

So I stalled the left front wheel sensor and it made the brakes was worse!! Touch the brake pedal and it kicks back and and has no brakes. Now the codes the truck is throwing is 34 and 44. Is it seriously possible for all this stuff to just take a crap all at once?

 

Still fighting this issue randomly. Tested all speed sensors cleaned connectors and put everything back together with a little dielectric grease. Do the truck is still randomly throwing the front wheel speed sensor code, my question is can the sensor test out fine and actually be bad?