XtraSlow_XtraCab

My father's 4Runner has had this problem since he purchased it used about a year ago. The brakes would intermittently hit the floor, or engage but with rediculous pedal travel.

Of course Toyota couldn't find anything wrong... typically the case when they send some kid out with an ASE certification that he slept his way through

Anyway on the last visit we specifically asked for their oldest, most experienced tech. Luck was on our side because the brakes actually did hit the floor and the tech almost hit a van parked in the service bay.

My reason for posting this is that I had done my research over the net and found that multiple brake problems have been occuring in this generation of 4Runner, but without answers.

For the longest time I had poked and prodded my way around the FSM thinking that the booster motor was not kicking on enough, or the ABS was being spunky. I would have jacked it up to check the calipers, but it never lost fluid... so I didn't. Which is why I never found the answer myself:

As it turns out the front wheel bearings have been horribly blown. This explains why the dealer we bought it from was gracious enough to install new tires that, as coincidence would have it, kept throwing wheel weights. Interestingly enough there weren't actually any shimmies or drifting to one side.

Anyway... I just thought I'd share this information for anyone (like myself) trying to figure out why their brakes are failing. I'm suprised the dang wheels haven't fallen off and why, more so, the tire shops did not bother to check bearing play while they were squatting down in front of the rotor and re-installing the tire. I think this just goes to show the incompetence of today's "mechanic".