Weak Braking - Tried Everything

If your axle nut is loose, your rotor will push out your caliper while driving creating a spongy 1st attempt. After the calipers readjust the brakes are good again, until you start driving....
Ask me how I know.

 

Did you have a hard pedal?

 

Well I just replaced cv axles recently and torqued the nut down to spec, so hopefully that’s not the issue.

 

The Vacuum Break Booster?

Interesting, I might replace mine again. When the funds come around.

 

Yes. Not sponge at all. I really had to horse it down to stop.

 

Yah that’s the difference, I have a soft pedal, not hard at all.

 

Yeah I still think its worth investigating air in the ABS module. The previous shop may not have done it correctly.

 

Ya, I 'torqued to spec' as well.
Something must've been bound up because when I went back in to check, I was able to get about 2 more turns out of the axle nut.

 

I’ve been going through all of this for the last year, tried everything and then some. Came across a thread where a mechanic recommended taking vise grips and pinching off your rubber brake lines at the rear first then the front. I did my rear first (pinched them off right above rear diff. My brake pedal is harder than it’s ever been… finally now I know my problem lies at rear drum brakes. I’m going to install new shoes and spring kits bc they are pretty rough or maybe it’s the cylinder. Either way now I know. I’ve probably spent 50 hours total over the last year trying to fix this stupid problem so I’m hoping that others will find this thread and it’ll help. If you pinch off the rear but then have no or little braking power release vise grips and move them to front lines and try again. If you get a nice firm pedal you know your issue lies with front brakes. Just be careful when pinching not to pinch too hard bc it could knick your brake line. Hope this helps.

 

Did you try an adjust the rear brakes. If they are not adjusted correctly it causes what you're having.

 

Yep def adjusted but now that I know that’s where the problem lies I’m going to adjust again and check the wheel cylinder, those little bastards can go out too. I love Toyota but I’ve never been a fan of the rear brake setup and I’ve read so many posts about other owners having brake issues but hey if it’s just that one thing it’sa pretty good pick up in my opinion. The build quality is no where near my 98 land cruiser but it was a good little truck for what 2006 had to offer. I’ll update post once I nail down if it’s the cylinder(s) or the entire kit needs to be replaced.

 

From the service manual: