Whoa...
I kind of knew what to expect going in because of all the researching I did beforehand (here, customtacos, TTORA, 4x4wire) and boy was I surprised. A few differences... I don't know all the part names but there were several things that I noticed... 4 of the hydraulic thingies instead of 1... brake pads that had the screech sensor in different places than what my OEM pads had (I got the ceramic performance friction pads = TRD, I think).
That and I definitely need to get my sliders on and purchase a hi-lift OR get a larger hyrdaulic jack. My itty bitty bottle jack and puny 2 ton hyrdaulic just ain't cuttin' it any more.

Something I noticed though. As I got more confident in my test drive I noticed that when I pulled a hard stop I was pulling a bit to the left. Will that be due to:
1. an overdue alignment
2. the fact that I accidentally smeared brake lube on the brake part in touch with the rotor on the passenger side
3. or both?

Lastly,
The brake pads I purchased had a thin sheet of metal on the back. All the write ups I read mentioned nothing about the new pads coming with one of those things. I ended up taking it off and going for the OEM ones because they were vented - I was thinking heat dissipation.
Did I mess up there?

Now, it's time to clean up and drive screech free to church

 

along with what you said about the pulling it could also be over torqued lug nuts believe it or not. but i think you answered your own question on that one

those little pads are just anti-vibration pads, i dont think they do much. good to keep them in though, youre ready to go..no wait..stop.

so you got the autozone pads? how are they, im almost due again.

 

So far can't complain but ony had them on for 1/4 mile
I'll give a report later.

They cost me $45.99 but they were selling a metallic for $19 - some big sale that ends today, I think.

As far as torqued nuts go, I didn't know that but I do have my lugnuts properly torqued.

The more I thought about the thin plates the more I thought it'd be best to keep them off. I had a hard time getting those assemblies back on. If I'd kept that plate I'm sure it would have been even harder :pat:

EDIT-
Thanks for the feedback, by the way

 

i leave the plates out all the time and cant tell the difference

 

Cool
150 miles later... my truck is back to it's good old stopping power. I haven't noticed a decrease nor have I noticed an increase. Just good reliable stopping

Can someone tell me why it's not a good idea to leave the brake fluid over the max line?

 

Because brake fluid is corrosive.

 

Oh, okay... I know it'll do bad things to the paint but I didn't realize it was something like that. I ended up driving around 75 miles or so with the brake fluid reservoir almost filled to the brim.
I got to my location and took a look inside and used paper towels to bring it down to the max level...
I was just wondering if I'd done any damage to the innards.