I purcahsed my runner from a young woman about 2 mths ago, and after the first tome really bouncing it around offroad, it started vibrating during braking(hard enough to bounce change in my console) and also the driver side front breaks were squealing all the time( not just stopping)

Well since I didn't know the exact date of her last brake job, I went and baught new rotors and pads, and settled down for some sunday wrenching.

Passenger side went FINE. Now heres where it gets funny:

When I took the driver side caliper off the pads just FELL out. After looking at the wear curves, i could see the the were not clipped in, just placed in upsude down and set on the rotor. When I called her to advise her not to give the same shop her business with her new ride, she told me that she had them done at TOYOTA!

Now my fingers are tired from all of this typing. enjoy

 

Well whatever drugs those Toyota tech guys were on, i want some.

 

that's not the first time some has done that i promise.

 

I'm still kinda confused as to how one would even go about putting pads on "upside down"
Explain this to me. Would the pads have been arched the wrong direction?

and anyhow, I'm not sure how 4runner calipers are but lots of caliper when removed will cause the pads to fall out of the spindle assembly.

 

Well, the pads have one side with holes for the pins, and one side with the squealers. so they had accually tried you use the squealers as wedges to hold the pads up into the caliper. As soon as a hit some big bumps they fell and were resting on the rotor, causing the squeaks. There are some nice big half-circles where the pads were only high enough for half of the pistons.

 

Did you lose the pins, or were those still in. Must have been two different guys working on the breakes if that happened, because you think you'd realize that if one side had holes to put the pins through, maybe the other side should be the same. Bah... just goes to show you that at least when you're doing your own work you can take the extra time and do it right, rather than sending it to an assembely line where time is more important that quality.