Towing with 2wd

Sorry, can't quite let this slide. Quoted directly from the manufacturer of the brakes that you recommend (do you actually have them on your truck?) for upgraded braking power:

http://ebcbrakes.com/product/premium-oe-rotors/
Uneducated people still say “My rotors are warped”. Well the engineering facts are ROTORS DO NOT WARP, they are made of cast iron, they are very tough and can be run to red heat and cooled time after time and they will not distort, we do this day in day out on our dynos in the EBC lab. Thats why the whole world still uses cast iron as a vehicle brake rotor material, there has never been anything to beat it and probably never will be.

 

The braking force is determined by the coefficient of friction between the road and the tire. The stock brakes are strong enough to lock up the tires on dry pavement. The only thing you will gain by going to aftermarket components is better fade resistance and initial bite. Better pads and rotors has nothing to do with stopping power as the stock brakes are powerful enough already.

 

Braking power is how well the brakes can use the Kenetic engery stored in the vehicle. Clamping force Is dictated by pressure and area of friction material is a biggy. grip is serface to rubber friction (area of "foot print") just throughing out big words doesn't make you right. There's a lot if factors that need to be identified. If bigger brakes didn't make a diff sports cars wouldn't have them and if diff materials were pointlessl then companies who actually know what they are doing (bmw,merc, Ferrari) wouldnt be using carbon ceramics. Sorry for spelling and grammar I'm in a car on my phone

 

Brakes do not "use" kinetic energy. Brakes convert kinetic energy to heat, through friction between the pad/shoe material and the rotor or drum.

Bigger brakes CAN make a difference, but ONLY in systems where the existing brakes cannot generate enough friction to completely stop the rotation of the tires.

A handful of high-performance street cars, and many racing vehicles, use exotic materials and designs to solve a specific problem. Because they operate at much higher speeds than the average street vehicle, they have a lot more kinetic energy to convert to heat. This heat dissipates through all materials in direct contact with the brakes, at a speed determined by their thermal conductivity (the rate at which heat flows through the material). Ideally, most of the heat dissipates into the air, because excessive heat in some other components (calipers, brake fluid, wheel bearings, etc.) can cause catastrophic failure. Many high-performance street and racing vehicles have special ducting to direct air directly to the brakes for this purpose.

To help vent the gases created from this high heat, the discs are sometimes drilled or slotted. Drilling a hole through the disc creates stress points where the metal can begin to fracture, causing catastrophic failure. Slotting the rotor has a similar effect, but greatly reduces brake pad life. This is OK in a race car, where you expect to put on new brake pads and/or rotors for every event.

Some of the alternate materials, like carbon, have very little braking power at normal street temperatures. They have to get extremely hot (compared to street brake temperatures) before there is sufficient friction to actually slow or stop the vehicle. In a racing scenario (or weekend track day) the brakes are repeatedly heat-cycled in a way that would cause brake system failure in an average street vehicle. This scenario simply does not exist on the street.

NONE of these extreme conditions apply to a street-driven Tacoma. I'm not talking about off-road racing, whether it be on a paved or unpaved surface. I'm talking about any normal usage that falls within the parameters of the vehicle owner's manual.

The Tacoma is not a Ferrari. It is not designed for the left lane of the German Autobahn. It is sold only in North America, and intended to be used in the driving conditions prevalent in North America.

The Tacoma brake system is more than adequate for the usage for which it was designed. There is sufficient extra capacity in the design to handle larger-than-stock tires without replacing the brakes.

There are two potential failure modes for our brakes. They may exist separately, or together.

First, excessive heat absorption into the brake fluid can cause the fluid to boil inside the caliper. This is classic brake "fade." The pedal feels mushy underfoot, and increasing pedal pressure does not slow the vehicle. Assuming that there is no water in the calipers (a real problem when the fluid is old) the first logical step to eliminating brake fade is using brake fluid with a higher boiling temperature. Switching from DOT 3 (401F boiling point) to DOT 4 (446F boiling point) or DOT 5.1 (500F boiling point) fluid is a no-brainer. It is the least expensive method, and very effective.

Second, the brake pads (which are not fading due to boiling fluid) cannot create sufficient friction with the disc/drum to stop the tire from rotating. This happens when the static load (gross vehicle weight) is in excess of the factory specifications, and/or when the rotational mass of the wheels and tires is increased beyond the capacity of the stock brake system. These conditions may occur separately or together. Either way, the effect is the same. Mashing the brake pedal to the floor does not activate the ABS or cause the tires to skid. This is the scenario where larger brakes are needed.

Unless the Tacoma has been modified to the point where the brakes can no longer activate the ABS or lock-up the tires, replacing the stock brake system is a waste of time and money.

 

Two things wrong. First, your facts are off and second is bolded.

Great post!

 

As soon as the oem are worn or get damaged EBC are going on (budgetary considerations). VT/warping, whatever you want to call it and whatever the cause... the result is a decrease in braking ability. I've gone through this issue on my 95 over and over, and the final fix which ended the problems forever were slotted rotors and properly matched pads. We can go back and forth on terminology and other mundane minutia, but that's what I know works.

Like I said above, the end results is a loss of braking ability. The solution I found was cost effective and proven.

 

This is called "talking through your hat."

UGH

 

Because slotted rotors eliminated my rotor/braking issues? That happened, making it historical fact. Sorry I don't have all day to google brake stuff, but I can certainly speak from experience.

 

Yeah, you're right. Apologies to the OP. I'm outtie.

 

Whatever label you want to apply, I think it is better to clear-up misinformation where it occurs.

Mike

 

Why does everything have to be a pissing contest?

Oh, and my dad can beat up your dad.

/thread

 

If the road is paved and dry then leave it 2wd but if you have to tow in snow wet mud or trail why not? I've towed a lot of trailers on 4wd with snow and mud no problem so was the previous owner

 

I agree. I've towed in 4wd also. If conditions get crappy enough, no reason you can't throw the switch to 4H and keep on trucking.

 

Agreed....and have done so many times.

I'll add that whenever I switch from 2H to 4H I bring my speed down to 55 or below and shift into neutral (not sure how that would work on an AT, I'm MT) before switching into 4H, then back into gear and press on. I do this both with and without a trailer. According to the owner's manual it's not necessary, but I've already had one front diff replaced under warranty, next one's on me ... trying to limit the potential for damaging that front diff. FWIW.

 

I'll just leave this here... OEM brakes are junk.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/294274-new-brakes.html

 

Ok, maybe I'm being harsh on the emperor, but maybe he should've built the Taco with a slightly better system.

Grand Marquis or... Caprice Classic!

 

Not a single thing that you have posted substantiates your claim that the stock 2nd Gen brake system is inadequate. Your posts thus far demonstrate fundamental ignorance of how the brake system works, and misunderstanding of the symptoms that you associate with poor brake performance. You don't mention any steps taken to diagnose the root cause of your alleged problems, or any steps taken to improve the performance of the system other than wholesale replacement of the major components. You have extrapolated these questionable problems from a 1st Gen truck where one brand of aftermarket brakes was used to replace the stock system, to a 2nd Gen truck with a different brake system where no similar symptoms have occurred, and recommended replacement brake rotors from a company whose products you have never used, for a truck that is not more than one year old, which you have never seen, and have no idea what size and weight of trailer is being towed, or what kind of brakes are on the trailer.

It is utter nonsense. Pure BS. There is no logical basis for recommending that the OP replace the nearly-new brakes on his nearly-new truck.

Mike

 

Thanks...changing channel to FX.

 

Maybe I should get cable...