mkgarrison5

hey guys i kind of did a flush to help solve or eliminate possibilities of why i need to mash my brakes hard to stop my taco.. we bled the lines about 10 times per tire going in the correct order furthest from the MC to closest.. i can see some difference where i dont have to mash as hard to really stop the truck. so thats good.. what i am thinking is that my combo of Toyota rotors matched with autozones lifetime warranty brakes in the front arent that great of a match. you have a pretty soft rotor matched with a very hard brake pad. imo it would be better to have a hard rotor (brembo) and soft pads (toyota OEM pads). correct me if i am wrong

one more thing, my back brakes (that have never been checked lol) have over 100k miles on them so i assume this maybe the other half of my issues

what do you guys think?

zlathim

I am assuming you mean that it takes extra effort to push the pedal and not that the pedal is mushy or goes to the floor.

How long ago did you replace the front brakes? Is that when you started having to exert extra pedal effort?

Certainly check your rear brakes now. If they are out of adjustment, you would have more pedal travel for sure. If they are worn out, your brakes are only at about 60% effectiveness.

CJM

I had major brake issues with my T100.

Replaced rotors and pads and still pedal was soft. Took a look at my rears and cut the drums and replaced the shoes, BINGO!

mkgarrison5

i am thinking the same about the rear brakes. just to go ahead and replace the drums and the shoes-- up grade.. hell if they last another 100k miles ill say money well spent.. but i need to take off the back tires and take a gander at them first.. yeah something i should have done before hand


zlathim, the rotors are atleast 60k miles old (mostly highway travel) and the pads i replaced back in october or november of this past year.. never had the rotors turned. ( i bought the truck with 52k miles on her)..... the brakes were like that before i replaced the front. just not much better with new pads.. i know the pedal is supposed to travel some but to me it travels too much before actual braking happens.. ill keep screwing around with them till i figure something out..... maybe its the nature of the beast who knows?

zlathim

It sounds like your rear brakes need attention. When rears are worn out or just out of adjustment, the pistons in the wheel cylinders have to move quite a ways, which allows the pedal to travel further before actuating the brakes both front and rear. I hope that made sense.

Definately check those rear brakes, and if you replace them, you really need to adjust them properly or the same thing will likely happen. Those rears just have to be adjusted correctly or the entire system suffers. If you don't have the means to measure the maximum diameter of the drums, then go ahead and replace them with the shoes, it really is cheap insurance. I hope this helps...

mkgarrison5

thats kind of what i had in mind.. thats my next step is to pull the rear tires off and inspect. perhaps clean the snot out of everything with brakekleen. how do you take the diameter of the drums?

also what is beleived to be the better rear brake setup? stock oem or the same with the front brembo/ oem pads??

97ltd4x4

Like everyone here,I agree pull the rear drums. adjust and/or replace them.

One other thing I had to deal with on the rear drums .The bellcrank(it attaches to the E-brake cable on each side drum backing plate) for the E-brake was siezed on one side.Actually it was siezed about halfway between the rest position and engaged.What this meant is that the wheel cylinder had to travel a long way before it would engage the shoes.Hence causing long brake pedal travel.

I would advise taking off the bell crank springs and removing the rubber boot cover and inspecting the piviot.If its fine I would put a little wheel bearing grease inside the boot to seal out moisture/lube piviot...Or If its siezed you need to remove it and chuck in vise and work back and forth with penetrant untill it moves freely....What I had to do.

mkgarrison5

i am not familiar with brake systems.. do you happen to have write up and or pics to show me kind of what to do? i can figure it out just need a tad bit of help. thanks!!... btw it shouldnt be seized bc i dont off road hardly ever.. more of a pavement pounder. oh and the ebrakes work great but they never get used..

edzo

here is a good shot of the right hand side braking system

BajaRunner

Heres a good link. Its done on an 88, but, essentially the same thing.

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/rearbrakes/

BTW - Drums can really be a PIA. Things need to go on correctly, and in the correct order. The springs are annoying!!

zlathim

[QUOTE=mkgarrison5;50770996] how do you take the diameter of the drums?
[QUOTE]

You really need a special measuring tool- They don't cost a fortune, if there is any doubt about them I would recommend considering replacement in lieu of messing around trying to measure them. You could take the drums to a brake shop and get them turned, i.e. retrued on a special lathe, but by the time you get done messing around with that you might as well just replace them. OEMs might be spendy, but Vatozone will have reasonably priced drums.

mkgarrison5

does anyone know of a good combo for rear drums and pads? kind of like the brembo\ hawk or brembo\ OEM pads?? same perhaps?

edzo

in the rear, oem all the way

I got the rear done with stock and have awesome hand brake power,
and perfect balance between front and back during hard stops on gravel

mkgarrison5

good deal.. thanks E.. i cant complain the ones i have on there now are 106k miles old... i may just go ahead and replace the pads and drums and have the parking brake checked..