What is this vibration if it's not a wheel balance issue?

Rotors aren't expensive, nor hard to install. Seems like an easy and inexpensive upgrade you can make to rule that out.

 

Glad to see you have worked down the trouble shooting tree. I thought I had the same problem on my Tundra but think I have ruled it to be the wheel bearing it was more of a faint humming / grinding noise.

 

I'm not sure about the early Tundras, but the new ones use the brakes for traction control and stability, so they wear pretty fast, the rears especially. So changing rotors may be the thing. Was one wheel more difficult to turn than the others while you had it in the air. If so you may want to look at your brake calipers as a stuck caliper piston will drag. Measuring pad thickness is a good indication of a stuck caliper too. I just did a honda with what looked like good brake pads all but one, which was down to the metal, replaced the rear calipers and all was fine. I always try to replace calipers in pairs BTW.

 

Ha, it would be nice to have traction control or stability control on my Ol' Trusty 1st Gen Tundra, but nope, nothing like that on these. These trucks were designed back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, when men where men and women were glad of it, and you could still smoke cigarettes on airplane trips.

 

Hey you seem like you would know: if I do have a caliper with a stuck piston, does that usually mean I need to replace the whole caliper (which then means I probably need to replace BOTH front calipers), or can one usually fix a stuck piston issue with a good caliper teardown/cleaning and a few brake parts?

 

In the case of a stuck piston, you need to figure out why it's stuck or just replace the damn caliper.

Lots of things can get pistons stuck. Maybe you never changed your fluid, brake fluid attracts or collects water (even in a sealed environment!) so if you never change or flush your fluid, it spends its life collecting water, and water in brake fluid will corrode all the metal parts, including corroding the lines from the inside, and depositing that corrosion into the piston eventually.

Likewise, a lot of brake systems need to use rubber hose for the last stretch from hard line to caliper else you can't turn the front wheels, and that rubber can crack and leak giving you soft brakes, or get pliable and collapse when you jamp the pedal, which is effectively like pinching a straw - if you've ever pinched a straw while drinking water, you know the straw won't come un-pinched in a sealed (suction) environment until you introduce an air source.

It's also possible for seals to wear think or split, allowing exposure to elements and thus corrosion, or bad/weak/damaged/worn lines to attack the piston.

The tolerances in those pistons is not very high, so it's very easy to have any of the above cause a piston in a caliper to lockup. A hardcore DIY'er may get a rebuild kit and just rebuild the calipers. Others would look at a seized piston or two or four a reason to upgrade to larger, newer calipers with more or larger pistons.

Hopefully that answers the Q?

Oh - and yes, if possible, you want to replace or rebuild both calipers at the same time. If replacing, it's important both calipers match in make/model/age. A brake pedal can't differentiate between left and right. I'm sure you could rig a custom prop valve to manage different amounts of hydraulic to different type/size calipers, but ... that's outside the scope of almost anything someone on this forum is driving.

 

Oh - and one more thing, if you plan to do all this yourself. While I know there are tricks more experienced people can use when swapping calipers to avoid having to bleed the lines after, if you choose to do it and are new to the concept of brake bleeding, you'll want to look into how to bleed brakes by yourself, unless you have help. Motive makes a great power-bleed kit that will help you do it. Just - whatever you do - don't let your reservoir run out of fluid. Seriously. You DO NOT want air in your brake lines. You don't want to struggle with trying to fix spongy pedal.

 

All good points that have been made. See what the pads look like first, that should give the info to make an informed decision. Back when I could smoke on a plane, I would disassemble the caliper and replace the piston that was worn or stuck, if I could get it out. I have since learned that buying loaded calipers is typically faster and easier. Another reason to replace the calipers is it is quite normal to run across a stuck bleed screw that breaks off, then you have no brakes until you fix it.
I have also used the turkey baster method to replace my brake fluid. Use a baster and suck out about 1/2 to 3/4 of the fluid in the reservoir, drive it for few days and repeat, several times. This takes time and and is not as good as properly bleeding the system. Oh yeah, the Motive Power bleeder will rock your world if you do this kind of thing frequently.

 

Thanks for the info here, great stuff. Lets say I needed to replace my brake calipers. You mention people upgrade their stock brake calipers with ones with larger/more pistons. What brakes would those be? Are they the 13WL calipers? I found this article detailing the 13WL swap on a Toyota Tacoma (not Tundra) forum. Does the 1st Gen Tundra come with the 13WL calipers on it already? The brakes on this Tundra have always been wimpy, so it would be nice if there was an easy, bolt-on upgrade using more powerful OEM Toyota brake calipers from a different year Tundra, or something.

 

I'm not aware of an "easy" bolt-on upgrade. I don't remember the year breakdown, which years had which calipers, but I think mine came with 13WL stock up front. I have it stuck in my head upgrades to bigger OEM calipers requires machining, shims or other weird crap, I think?

I don't find the brakes on my '06 to be terrible. Granted, I never tow or haul more than 1,000lbs at any given time, so my needs may be different than yours. I have heard others with early model trucks like yours complain about how weak the brakes are, so maybe it's not something that impacts '06, '05 maybe '04?

Anyway, wrong guy to talk to about upgrades. I prefer OEM or OEM+ on almost everything, and only upgrade if something isn't "enough". Other vehicles with single-piston calipers are a no-brainer upgrade going dual-piston. Maybe Brembo or someone else makes a caliper with larger dual-pistons? But you may need to upgrade other stuff if you go with a larger bore ....

 

The earlier first gens came with 13WE calipers, WL fit, but may need some trimming of the dust shield.

14WA are off the GX470 and 5th gen 4runner. The ears on the caliper need to be trimmed and you'll need new pads, calipers and rotors. https://www.tundras.com/threads/2000-2006-tundra-big-brake-upgrade-kit-14wa-calipers.61231/

 

I did some research just now and read through several "WL brake caliper upgrade for a Tunda" forum threads. Here's the skinny: the WL brake calipers are a gigantic improvement, and they bolt right onto the earlier Tundras with no drama, except you need to take a dremel tool with a cutoff wheel and cut about 3 inches off of the tips of the metal brake shield. These calipers are slightly bigger and beefier, but clamp a lot harder. The also fit inside the stock 16-inch wheels so no problems with clearance either. The WL calipers are also designed to work with larger brake pads that Toyota designed (year 2003 to 2006), so there is a lot more brake pad area that is contacting the rotor, together with more clamping force, giving a really nice upgrade to stopping power. No increase in warpage over the original, "WE" brake calipers. The weak-ass Tundra brake calipers and pads were from 2000 to 2003, so when ordering replacement pads/rotors, order them for a 2005 4x4 Tundra for compatibility. You can also do braided steel brake lines while you're in there.

There is a brake kit from Power Stop that comes with the larger WL type calipers and rotors (many people in forums have better lifespan before warpage with drilled/slotted rotors), called Power Stop KC2324-36 Z36 Truck & Tow Front Caliper Kit. $452.20

$589 Power Stop Brake Kit For Toyota Tundra Sequoia Caliper Casting #13WL - Z36 Truck & Tow Front Calipers, Carbon-Fiber Ceramic Brake Pads, and Drilled and Slotted Brake Rotors Replacement, KC2324-36

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KT5E9IA/?coliid=I2KJAQ6HQZ7HNV&colid=2E58O191L483G&ref_=gv_ov_lig_pi_dp

I usually keep things OEM whenever possible but the Toyota dealer wants over $500 just for the brake calipers, then another $230 for a pair of rotors, plus more $ for pads.

And these are the correct Stop Tech braided steel lines for the WL calipers. $49 each: STOP TECH 95044007

$46 StopTech 950.44007 StopTech Stainless Steel Front Brake lines for 95-07 Toyota 4 Runner

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0136U9JJS/?coliid=I17WR9KIIEHONX&colid=2E58O191L483G&ref_=gv_ov_lig_pi_dp

I am so going to do this easy brake upgrade. When I do I'll report back here on this thread to tell everyone how it went

 

Isn't the WL upgrade what @FirstGenVol did, and has been struggling with spongepedal squarepants ever since? Maybe no because of the calipers, though.

There's some OEM wheel upgrade choices you can't do with WL upgrade also, pretty sure they rub the inside of some wheels. I don't have the specifics on that, but may want to look into it.

 

He did 14wl, which is the 4runner/lexus gx larger rotor and caliper.

Not 13wl, which is the 1st gen OEM upgrade from the 13we calipers.

 

All these WL, WTF, OMFG. Thanks for clarifying.

 

"Spongepedal Squarepants" lol! I've seen that movie too many times... My 2003 Chevy Trailblazer was a re-run of that movie too.

 

Regardless of what you do. I say stay away from the Power Stop stuff rock auto sells. I had 2 premature failures in the 5 times I used them. Both were seized calipers within one year of install.

 

13WL is an easy swap. Early first gens (00-02) had the 13WE calipers and rotor warping and vibration was a wide spread thing. Toyota switched to 13WL in '03 as the standard brake caliper. To put them on your 00-02, all you have to do is take the 13WE off and bolt the 13WL on (basically). The brake shield will need to be trimmed back a little to accommodate the larger calipers. A pair of HD tin snips or a Dremel / grinder will make quick work of the brake shield. "Huge improvement" is a stretch. Mine haven't warped since then, so that's a huge improvement. But stopping power, can't say any dramatic difference. If I could stress anything, which I have as others have on this forum over and over, the magic sauce to Tundra brakes is in the back, not the front. You have to get the rears adjusted and dialed in properly for the system to work. It's not that the rears are doing a majority of the work, It's that the rears are the key to proper balance in the system so the fronts are activating at the right time with the right amount of force.

 

Ok, problem solved. I did the 13WL brake caliper upgrade, along with braided steel brake lines, new rotors, new EBC Yellowstuff brake pads (fairly aggressive pads). My vibration problem is gone. It was being caused by warped brake rotors caused by a stuck piston in the stock 13WE calipers. That brake warpage was sending a vibration up through the steering rack too, because my tie rod ends were worn.

My impression of the brakes after the upgrade/swap to 13WL calipers: better stopping power, but longer pedal travel. I think the larger calipers have larger pistons, requiring more volume of brake fluid to provide the same pressure at the pad. I have more braking confidence than before, and zero vibrations, but now I'm thinking I should upgrade the brake master cylinder.

I wonder: if Toyota changed to these larger calipers in 2003, did they also change the master cylinder too? For instance do 2003+ Toyota Tundras have a brake master cylinder with a larger-diameter piston inside? As I understand it, a larger piston would push more volume of fluid, which would reduce brake pedal travel (at the expense of increased pedal effort, of course).

 

If you haven't already, make sure the rear brake shoes are properly adjusted. It wouldn't hurt to pull the drums to visually inspect everything since there can be several contributing factors to them not being adjusted the way they should. A few clicks on the star adjusters can bring back a bit of the lost pedal travel.