How To: Early Tundra Brake Upgrade

[myardnut]

Great post and thread about the notorious early model Tunrda front brake wobble fix. My hat's off to the OP and the work that went into the PDF file. I printed it out and am planning the upgrade now.

I have not had much problem with mine until I recently moved into a hilly area. In the flats they were not really an issue.

One Q: Will this work on TRD's with factory ABS?

Update: Was PM'd that the brake upgrade works file with ABS brakes.

[myardnut]

I just updated my front brakes on my '00 Tundra following this method and they are working fine. No more wobble braking downhill at 45 MPH, which is where I had the most problem recently. I used the '05 calipers and all Raybestos parts (pads and new rotors). Took me about 4 hours total. I painted the calipers the night before, and it took me a while to bleed all the air out of the lines. I used a side grinder to cut the backing plates. I also used the grinder to cut off about 1/8" off the mounting bolts and used the originals. On mine at least, the original bolts did not stick out past the new caliper guides into where the rotors travel. I just shortened them enough so they did not stick out of the caliper housing.

The old brake lines fit exactly in place where the new calipers were mounted. No replacements were needed. Also, the new Raybestos pads came with a set of shims. Toyota wants like $50 for a set of shims. I talked to a manager at Napa and he says that all the new brake pads come with shim kits, and they no longer sell the shims separately.

I have the original factory fully loaded calipers and rotors if anyone wants them for the core charge plus shipping. PM me if interested.

And thanks again for the detailed upgrade description here, MEvang! That saved me a lot of time and trouble. And MONEY!

[wrxboxy]

MeVang is the man.

My dad and I did this over about 4 nights last week. Our motto: "We're big but we're slow." I figure it took us about 5 hours on the driver's side to set ourselves up, realize we didn't have the right tools, take the night off, go get the tools for the next day, wait overnight for the paint to dry, have another beer...

I bought Brembo rotors from Tirerack (2 delivered for $182) for an '04 Tundra and they fit fine.

Raybestos unloaded calipers from Napa (used their cross matching system and it found a perfect match). Don't remember the cost.

Napa brake pads; who knows if they're ready for track duty but the truck stopped on the way to the dump. Silent, no smoke.

I followed the instructions and bought the Toyota caliper bolts (8 of them, $6.52; I will have 4 rattling around forever in a drawer somewhere to keep the other 4 that we removed company), both brake lines, $13.72, and the shims, about $55.

MeVang, all of the numbers, details etc. were outstanding. We followed the instructions to the letter and were really impressed w/ how well you explained everything. The passenger side took an hour and 40 minutes but we didn't have to assemble the caliper. People who can do this in 2 hours both sides are full of kimchi or are Nascar employees.

We spent a long time bleeding the lines and the result is a firm pedal and clean fluid.

One point I'd make for someone doing this is that you may be able to save your brake lines if you use a flare nut wrench to remove them. Even w/ the salt in Maine they came off easily.

We learned late that it was way easier to install the new hard brake lines by moving the retaining clip for the rubber hose out of the way w/ a standard head screwdriver and a hammer. I'd recommend using the silver marker (again, smartest idea ever from MeVang) to note the location of the correct position of the hose as the steel fitting is indexed into the hanger. Took us 10 minutes the first time; 1 minute once we figured out that trick.

We used Vise-Grips on the rubber brake hose and protected the hose w/ cardboard. We didn't have any brake fluid leakage and it didn't compromise the hose.

A cut-off wheel worked easily on the steel brake cover thing whatever the hell it's called.

A clear piece of tubing for bleeding the lines was helpful as you could see air bubbles. Not sure the dimension of the tubing we had but it was clear polyethylene. Bring a new caliper to the tubing store and match it up w/ the nipple and you're good to go.

I was surprised how much larger the surface area on the new calipers was compared to the stock calipers.

Unfortunately, the brakes still shudder so this week we will hit the rear brakes. We tried the parking brake test at 35 mph and it sorta pulses but we were hoping the fronts would cure it. I was expecting a violent shudder but it was pretty much imperceptible. Plus, the previous owner had recently replaced the front struts and I'm not sure it has been aligned since. Regardless, it'll be nice to have gone through the brakes and put that behind us.

If anyone wants front calipers & rotors from an '02 give me a shout; no idea what the hell I'll do w/ them and I don't want to try to sneak them in as 'cores' back to Napa... The shoes even have a lot of life left on them.

In closing, this may be the best DIY post ever on the Internet. Nice job and thanks again.

Here are the dealership prices on parts for reference...

Caliper 442.93 each

Pads 76.19

Shim set 50.23

Brake lines 6.86 each

Caliper bolts 1.63 each

Rotor 109.00 each

[myardnut]

You can list the calipers on this forum for sale. They are an upgrade for the 4-Runners. I sold the pair of mine here on TS for the core changes. I also sold the rotors for really cheap to a guy that re-used them, just to get rid of them. All recycled now!

I am working on my rear brakes now as well. As soon as I got the front brakes updated and working, the rear brakes started acting up. They made noises at low speeds, they wobbled some, and they were out of round. I put in the lower number toothed rear brake struts (star adjusters) per the TBS, and put on new brake shoes, as well as a new inner axle seal the driver side (there was a small diff oil leak). We shall see if they solve the problem. So far they are working good.

[jself]

I am getting ready to use Mike's fix to finally solve the brake problems we have been having with my wife's '02 Sequoia for years. The only issues that we have had with the Sequoia have been brake problems. I hate to think about all the $$ we have dumped into the Sequoia over the past 3 years on brake pads, rotors and labor.

I am going to buy the parts gradually and have them ready when the most recent brake work fails. The parts list and all the comments on this topic are very helpful!!!

Q: I am having some problems finding Raybestos calipers and rotors locally. Wagner calipers, rotors and pads are readily available at several local parts stores. Are Wagner materials of comparable quality to Raybestos? If not Wagner (or Raybestos) then what other brands would be good quality?

I will post the results as I make the switch.
thanks.