Brake pedal height

I have a 2013 Tacoma and the front brakes have been completely replaced and the rear drums and shoes are in good shape and have been adjusted. The problem is the height of the brake pedal. As best I can determine the pedal should be about 6 1/2" above the floor. It is only about 4" above the floor and is about 2" lower than the clutch pedal (manual transmission). Everything seems to stop but the pedal is almost to the floor before the brakes engage. I have looked and the information seems to indicate that I should not be messing with the actuating rod. How do I get more pedal. I am not sure that I could stop in a panic situation. The pedal is almost on the floor.

 

Here have you

 

It's possible the master cylinder is going bad and isn't returning to where it's supposed to be. IF that's the case eventually your truck won't stop.

It's also possible the brakes haven't been properly bled as it requires some special computer doo hickey (that's a technical term) to properly bleed the brakes.

 

OK Thank you. I had seen that before and was not sure what they meant about push rod and adjusting rod. I crawled back under the dash and looked again and decided that it was going to require someone much younger and more agile than I am to do that. Hopefully it is not the master cylinder but that is a possibility because this has happened recently and rather gradually. It is more than a turn or two on the adjusting rod.

 

Your master cylinder is going out. 100%. Replace it.

 

What started all of this brake problem was that from time to time I would stop at a light or intersection and I would go about 50 feet and the brake would hang up. To release it I would back up a few feet and it would release. This seemed to happen after I had backed up shortly before stopping at the light. They replaced the front calipers and pads because they said a caliper was not releasing. Shortly after that it happened again and I thought that the rear drum brake adjustors were not returning so they put new adjusters on the rear. So my question is if the master cylinder is going bad would that cause the brakes to seize. You stated that the master cylinder was not returning correctly.

Thanks














w

 

You may have air that made its way into the master cyl after replacing the brakes, I would attempt a good vacuum bleed on it and give it some seat time before replacing the master. Do you have vacuum booster or the TRD offroad with the hydraulic assist?

 

I have vacuum boost. Air in the system would make spongy pedal but would not make the pedal height problem. I have not heard about the master cylinder failing to return problem before. The return height is a solid stop, not something where I can pull the pedal up to the correct height. I have always done my own auto repair but at 82 and no longer having a good place to work I have been having others do the work. I have not been too happy with that. I am having a problem understanding why this is happening. I can understand a slight adjustment on the adapter rod but being off by 2"+ does not seem to make sense. To the best of my knowledge no one has done anything to the master cylinder other than to bleed the system.

 

Brake fluid is getting past the piston on the inside the master cylinder and not allowing the master cylinder to come all of the way back out. It happened on my first vehicle (1950 Chevy truck), on a '88 4Runner I owned, and most recently on my '89 HD Softail (which I haven't replaced the master cylinder on yet). Your brakes will one day cease to stop your truck and only slow it down at a very poor rate of control. The piston inside the master cylinder is now operating much closer to the end of its travel.

Please replace your master cylinder.