Hey guys about halfway through my roadtrip of 1500 miles my Runner started pulling to one side pretty badly when I hit the brakes fairly hard. Normal driving it seems okay but if you really mash on em it's hard to keep it on the road. I am going to pull the pads out and inspect them and the rotors this week and also I was thinking of cracking the bleeders and moving each piston in and out a few times in the caliper in case one is hanging up someone. Does anyone else have any ideas of what I should look for while it's apart?

 

You've hit everything I could think of, but at least I'll bump it for ya!

 

I've got a wonky caliper now too, after I had the other replaced last year. Usually, it's due to rust caused by moisture in the brake fluid. I think in my case, it was dirt left by my last wheeling trip, a few mud holes then sandy roads and trails.

I'm not sure how its behaving now, I pulled the caliper off and cleaned up everything without disassembing. We'll see! Good luck on yours!

 

Clean and lube the caliper sliders also, to make sure that isn't contributing to the problem.

 

Make sure your front tires are at the same pressure before you blame the brakes. Then start by bleeding the fluid and make sure there is no rust or crud in the brake lines. Make sure no brake lines are pinched or kinked or leaking. If that fails to solve it then tear into the calipers and slave cylinders.

 

when my rear axle seal leaks and 90W saturates the shoes ,y 4runner pulls to the opposite side while breaking. I just got through changing my inner and outer seals and bearing on my passenger side because it was leaking. breaks were sopping with 90w when I popped the drum off, meaning it wasn't doin' no good! under breaking it was pulling left. once I replaced the breaks and the seals/bearings and bled the lines the pulling was gone and I go straight while breaking now.

just something to check. - look where the bearing flange and the brake baking plate mate, if it's wet your seal is bad. you can also try to see the outside of the drum through the wheel, if it's wet than the outer seal is bad and the gear oil is going crazy. or you could just pull your tire off and pull the drum and look. here's what my drum looked like before I pulled the drum to repair.

this was a combo of worn inner and outer seals caused by worn bearing {probably}

 

I had the same symptoms... turned out to be a siezed caliper on the side opposite the pull - mine was pulling to the right, my passenger side front caliper was siezed.

 

so you mean that it was seized on the SAME side as the pull? Mine wasn't braking on the passenger side because it was soaked with gear oil so there was more braking on the drivers, in effect pulling opposite the problem side.

 

Keisur thanks.. we don't have the leaky axle probs on the second gens. I don't think the rear brakes do crap on a second gen except run the Ebrake. You can through 3 sets of front pads to one rear set. Anyways I am about positive that I have a stuck piston in the caliper. I had this prob once already on the other side and I got it free with a C clamp and moving it in and out a few times. I am going to do this again. It'll only be a temp fix if any. I plan to get my calipers rebuilt when I get stateside and maybe get some NWOR slotted rotors and stainless lines. I've never been too impressed with 4Runner brakes. They work fine now cept for that pull. I was driving home from work yesterday and was really tired and I spaced out for a bit.. The car in front of me stopped in the middle of the highway to make a turn and I looked up and had to slam on the brakes. I didn't lock em up but the tires chirped a bit and I slowed right down.. Never got that close but what a rush. Was wide awake alert and enthusiastic after that!!