d0ubledown

good to hear its workin out for you andy. and i agree that a couple hun isnt gonna hurt when you get substantially better braking. i wonder why the 3rd gens (or some of us 3rd gen owners anyway) have been having warped rotor issues while others havent..

now the only thing ive got to do is hunt down some reasonably priced calipers. most up here (if they even are available) are wanting CDN$180-200...and thats not even with core charge :pat: im even contemplating ording from the US, picking up there & getting them installed there... hmm

MTL_4runner

If you find a good place north of the border, let me know.

sswearin1

my understanding is that some 3rd gens came from the factory with 15" wheels and smaller calipers and possibly rotors. My 3rd gen came with 16" wheels and I guess with my upgraded sport package that means upgraded brakes. I sure someone will correct me if this isn't true, just seems like it as my window sticker on my 2000 makes a point of mentioning the upgraded brakes.

bamachem

on the door vin sticker, if it says 16" wheels, then you got the bigger brakes. those were standard on 4WD limited's, highlander/sport models, and some SR5's. the rest got the very wimpy brakes for the 15" wheels. the good news is that even though the calipers are very similar in size on the runners w/ 16" wheels (from japan) and the tundras, the tundra rotors are WAY thicker and therefore dissipate heat better (larger mass = more heat sink) and the pads have a much larger surface area for better stopping power. for a 15" wheel runner, the upgrade will be even more substantial.

surf4runner

cost was the deciding factor (i had no $$$) if the brembo's warp then i WILL upgrade regardless.
im interested to see if the OEM rotors were that bad or if it happens to any replacement.

they have been on for about 2mos and work

bigacuralvr

Well, picked up all my parts to d the swap at Checkers today. They price matched Autozone for the Calipers - Loaded ($52 a piece + 5% gaurantee), and Rotors ($48 each + 5% gaurantee), and the rear shoes ($19.99 + 5% gaurantee). The calipers have a core of $63.00 each, but that will be back in my pocket next weekend!! So, $220 for everything after the core refund!!! Finy thing, if I just wanted to do stock everything were $74 per rotor, and $50 for front pads, and $20 for rears....it came to the exact same price!!! I'm pretty excited. The calipers are special order...so it will be next friday by the time the come in, but it should be pretty sweet!!! I'll post any tips that I come across too.
Brett

JHupp

My door sticker says 15", and I definately have 16" wheels, and the same brakes that came on a 16" door sticker truck. I have never heard a good reasoning for the 15"/16" door sticker reason, but I definately have the bigger 16" brakes, compared with another 3rd gen with a 16" door sticker and 16" wheels. Also, 15" wheels with 4" BS definately do not fit, they rub the caliper allllot. Mine are fairly warped too, I spun the hub last time I had the tires off, and you can see the rotor "wobble", it's actually worse then my quad, which sees some hard braking, has 4 year old rotora, and get's trashed often. Go figure...

Mason Dixon

I'd like to see pics of your(bamachem's) rear passenger piston thats leaking, also did y ou adjust your rear brakes by backing up and cranking up on the e-brake or manually measuring stuff and setting it?

bamachem

i didn't take any pics of the rear drums. i'll do that when i swap out the rear calipers this summer. i took them off and cleaned them up, manually adjusted them to be "close", then finished it off by backing up while pumping the e-brake.

bamachem

pics...

snap-on

so is that all you had to trim to fit the wheels? did you grind the backside of the wheels like fingers did?

Crux

Newb question: What do you do to stop brake fluid from leaking all over after disconnecting?

DoubleZero4x4

I can tell you what I did. I used the finger of a latex glove and just stuck it on there and wrapped the rest of the glove around to hold it, worked perfectly.

Hey Andy...

Interesting PICS. One thing that I noted and confirmed with the Dealer with their uber cool computer catalog with piuctures. That tab that exctends acoss the top of the caliper between the two pad retaining pin's does not exist in the Tundra brake system.

So I didn't put that in when I did my upgrade.

bigacuralvr

Here's my question....how do you guys bleed the brakes by yourself?? I always need to drag the other half out to pump the brakes.
Brett

snap-on

i always drag a helper out.

else you can use a pressure bleader system on the MC or vacum sucker thingie on the bleeder port.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

My wife knows how to bleed brakes by now, as many times as she's had to help.

I went to the parts guy at the local auto parts and asked for a "vacuum sucker thingie" and he looked at me funny.

DoubleZero4x4

All 3 ways work. I would recommend the pressure or vacuum style bleeders. Both will allow you to flush the system when you change your brakes. The buddy system is ok but its just not what I prefer.

The vacuum stlye bleeders are $30 at my local AutoZone.

KZN185W

iTrader: (1)

You can use the rubber cap on the bleeder plugs to cap the brake line.

KZN185W

iTrader: (1)

Andy,

In your opinion, will there be a need to "shave" part of the wheel if a wheel with a backspacing of 4" is used?

Thanks.

bamachem

i only shaved the calipers instead of having to shave 5 wheels.

i always take a set of vice grips and slightly "pinch" a soft brake line before i disconnect it for any work. that keeps the fluid from draining out and keeps the vacuum bleeding to a minimum - and yes, i have a vacuum bleeder.

it's not as much about backspacing (placement of the tire compared to the position of the rotor), but more on the shape of the back side of the wheel spokes as shown in the pics.