1st Gen Tundra Brake Upgrade

Wanted to hear what your guys' opinion are for a big brake upgrade.

Went wheeling and any steep declines and it was very hard to stop my tundra. I plan to put a wedge camper on my truck bed so it'll be even heavier.

 

How are your tires?

 

I’m on 33” tires

255/80/17

 

What pads you running?

 

I think they’re just the stock ones from the 2005 DBL cab SR5

I just got the truck

any experience with those z36 power stop kit? If they’re any good?

 

I heard good things about the power stop z36 kits. I just installed some on a 3rd gen trd pro-pretty good quality. I like to stick with oem pads. Initial bite/not much dust. They are just expensive.
I’ve ran ebc Pads on my 1st gen Tacoma, a lot more dust but they bite a lot better.

 

How fresh is your brake fluid? Are all your caliper pistons working? Just some other things to consider.

 

First things first: are your rear brakes adjusted properly? Do you use your parking brake regularly? Can the parking brake hold the truck on an incline?

 

I mean tread wear. They still have a decent amount left or are they bald?

I have that kit on my 06. They work great.

 

You need to inspect/adjust/repair your whole brake system first. The stock brakes will stop your truck. A big brake upgrade won't help if your brake system is in disrepair.

 

Ahh I see

I‘ll inspect all fluids this weekend

but my parking break almost has no resistance when I push it down.

I avoid parking on inclines because of this reason

 

Decent amount left still

 

My brakes can definitely still stop my truck but definitely takes a little bit of planning to in order to stop. I’d want more responsive and powerful brakes for declines when going off roading and just faster response braking.

I’ll thoroughly check out my entire system this upcoming weekend.

thanks for the advice

 

The front and rear brakes are linked, so if the rear brakes aren’t functioning properly, it adversely affects the fronts.
The rear brakes self adjust when you use the parking brake.

 

They are supposed to. Prob don't though. Get those rear brakes properly adjusted and you might be surprised how much better the entire braking system feels

 

Any update on your brake situation

 

4lo with lo gear is your best friend for off road descents

 

going with Geoffrey beer’s big brake which uses the GX470‘s brake pads

 

Where can I get info on Geofffrey Beers brake upgrade? My Tundra brakes have been terrible from day one in 05 when I took delivery.

 

Look into adjusting your Brake proportioning valve (sp? Correction?) In the rear of your rear brakes are not grabbing. As stated above the front and rear need to be in sync for proper braking.

 

I have read about this and the concept of over adjusting it for better grad, but in the end I am confident that these brakes just are inferior for our trucks. I have owned this truck since brand new and the brakes were never good from day one. Many mechanics have tried and failed at making a difference. I am of the belief/hope that doing an upgrade to the front and adding rear disc conversion would help. I know that drums have more contact than disc but when they are constantly out of ideal adjustment how good are they really. This truck should have been four wheel disc from factory like a Land Cruiser or others.

 

I'm on the other side of the fence here. I have an 04 with the bigger brakes. After messing around with my BVP my truck stops on a dime, and I have an 1100lb camper in the bed. The stock brakes seem way more than adequate to handle whatever braking you need to do.

 

I takes a while to figure out the rear adjustment metrics. For the first few years since 2002, the parking brake worked well. After that it was sporadicly loose. Eventually, it didn’t work as pressing the PB pedal it would go all the way to the floor almost. Sometimes I’d be driving with it depressed and not realize until looking at the PB On Light. She was toast.

Fast forward to today. I had a difficult time until coming across the FSM Adjustment Scheme last hear which focuses on the crank arm set backs. Lubing all the pins and levers on the Cable to Crank Arms helped unlock some seizing at those critical rotation areas. At this point, my brakes were 90% proper. I still couldn’t figure out why my pass side rear drum was adjusting and the driver side was not completely doing so. Ended up being a seized lever (1 of 2) on the center axle in the T location. There are two swivel/levers at that T. One is obvious and the other I recently discovered after noticing the bushings were shot. That pin was seized hard. Doesn’t look like a pin which is why I missed it.

Ironically, the bushings are called the PB Equalizers. To my knowledge there is no FSM for this adjustment.

I’ve done the WE to WL13 upgrade and there is an improvement to be had. SS Hoses also help to even pedal consistency by no mushy to firm pedal feel like the old rubber hoses offered. It also helps to have that self adjusting thing working proper at the cable.

I will say adjusting the Prop Valve up was my biggest improvement of all and that was done before any of this other stuff describe above. I still had the WE tiny pads and non-working PB.

I can stop the truck with just the PB Brake now. Takes some time to get all the adjustments right, but before... that scenario was impossible. WL13 with fully functioning cables and levers and SS Hoses and the brakes are better than new. She doesn’t have race car stopping, though.

 

You are probably the only 1st gen owner that has said the original brake are good. I respectfully disagree.

 

It wasn’t until I figured out and made the adjustments myself. Goofy Mechanics tried on mine a few times but no success. Either they were clueless or didn’t want to mess with it. There are many levers and rotation pins etc in the system. Many may be seized. Start with the FSM Crank Adjustment Arms and work from there. The Prop Valve UP is an easy adjustment. Two wrenches and less than 5 minute of your time. At least try it first before the other stuff. You might be surprised.

 

I think there are a lot of variables that will change opinions on this. The size and type of tire, driving style, actual vehicle weight for examples.

For me, if brakes are well maintained (properly bled, properly adjusted, replaceable parts within spec) they work okay but leave a bit to be desired. When they get hot especially, and if you have oversized off road tires and/or extra weight. I have towed a bit with my truck, but if I went to the heavy end of the range I wouldn't feel comfortable. I just drive with 4700lbs in mind, it isn't a very light truck so I don't depend on it to stop like one.

That said, I am not sure that bigger rotors and calipers is the real answer but they should help. Even when these trucks were newer and the TRD big brake kit was available, some guys said they stop wellut pedal feels soft. I think there are improvements to be made in the booster and MC as well, and at some point the abs will take over anyway.

 

Been running that kit on my 06 double cab for about a year now. Very happy with it so far.

 

You guys are really offering some great detailed info. Has my head spinning a bit and sort of reinforces why I this original design overall sucks. I am not a mechanic but I could definitely learn to do everything you have mentioned, the problem is I don’t want to have to deal with that all the time just to keep the system functioning a a decent level. And you know mechanics, if I walked into my Toyota mechanics shop with all this info they will think I am some Internet hack who thinks they know everything bc we “read it on the internet “. Maybe I am selling them short, but I’m not convinced he would really do all the work needed and mentioned above. That being said, swapping to different discs front and rear may not be any easier. I did a custom disc swap for my 66 Land Cruiser and I wasn’t hard, just a lot of time figuring out how stuff went together. I am also interested in the booster idea. I have always suspected that the booster might be part of the issue. ICON 4x4 uses a powerful booster on their Land Cruisers and sweats by them. I think may be called a Hydoboost, not sure. Also don’t know if it would work w the ABS system.

 

I'm not gunna lie, despite saying my brakes are more than adequate for now, I will need to rotors and pads in the near future and was considering the z36 kit myself. Looks like quality and read a lot of great reviews.

 

I too have considered this is it would make my brakes significantly better. I don't have to have race car brakes and I do not tow often, but it would be nice to have a firm peddle and better brakes without "breaking" the bank.