Rant!! Front Brakes and Rotors

So I needed to replace my front rotors and brake pads for state inspection and normally this is a simple job but with the designers fabulous idea on their brakes they need to have their heads examined. I realize that it may have been so that it's easier to change out the brake pads but let me tell ya that if you live in the Northwest or anywhere that Snow falls then rust is an issue and the pins that hold the brake pads in don't like to come out so then you have to replace the calipers as well and don't even get me started on the fact that they use a solid line to supply the fluid to the calipers. I mean why would you not use a rubber line so you can just remove that from the caliper and then reconnect it? This was by far the worst brake job I have ever done and I have done too many to count in all my years of owning vehicles. Come on Toyota!!!

 

I hear you!

And the caliper is so big it really is a 2 person job that can be managed with one. Unless you have 3 hands.

 

I had to drill out my first set of caliper pins to get them out. Not fun!

I know better now to keep them from seizing up.

 

A hammer doesn’t/didn’t work?
I feel sorry for you rusteasterners

 

No those suckers were literally fused in there.

 

That is just so foreign to me, it’s like I’m taking crazy pills!
How do you prevent this forward? Grease them as often as heather pulled and swapped spark plugs?

 

Yep. Grease and poking at them with a ball peen hammer to move them back/forth until you're ready to remove the rust buildup with sandpaper and re-grease again.

Similar to those parking brake bell-cranks in the rear that seize regularly.

 

I put some anti-seize on the new pins but don't know how long that will last. I really don't get why they would design the system this way? The crazy thing is that when I bought this truck 5 years ago the dealer put new calipers, rotors and pads on at that time. The fact that the calipers couldn't be reused after only that short of time is very sad.

 

And here I've been lathering my pins with anti sieze. This is one of those moments when I can say California isn't so bad.

 

Consider yourself lucky and thankful that you do not have to deal with this issue.

 

Yeah, I check their condition every time I remove the wheels. Some people here living in the rust world just change out the pins. I just re-sand when bad, re-apply grease and re-use.

 

You can get a stainless braided line that replaces everything from where the rubber line joins the hard line at the frame down the the caliper. I had a pair of those lines but I went with another pair that had banjo fittings at the caliper, same idea though. I agree that hard line off the caliper is a strange idea.

 

I am looking into that now. I am going to put the solid line on for now and get the braided stainless to replace them.

 

The ones I had got were from Solo Motorsports, they can probably be found cheaper elsewhere.

The banjo ones I run are from Wheelers off road and are meant for a first gen Tacoma. Getting the copper washer to seal properly is a bit of a challenge, I would avoid banjo if possible. I filed the surface slightly to remove the texture, it isn't totally flat on driver side so I employed a bit of goop and a thick copper washer to seal it.

 

Trying to find some but it looks like it will take some time to find the right setup. It would be nice to simply find something that goes right from the rubber line to the caliper. May need to have something made. There is a local shop that makes lines for pressurized systems.

 

If I was gonna complain about a Toyota brake design it would be their $2000.00 electronic master cylinder on 4Runners. Never had a problem in the NW with rusted pins/calipers but I’ve always had a problem with calipers warping on my yotas (runner, tundra, matrix) except a Camry.

 

Kind of makes you wonder how a company that has been making vehicles for nearly 100 years or whatever can't come up with a better design. I mean they make a good vehicle but what the hell were they thinking with the brake system design. The wife has a Avalon and that has a reasonable setup which is surprising considering what I found on the Tundra.

 

Yeah! To hell with drivetrains that don't need to be rebuilt for well over 500k miles with only basic maintenance! These brakes SUCK!!!!

Priorities, kids. Now would be a good time to put the brakes on all the whining. If you want good brakes, go buy a McLaren

 

Well I think innovation leads to bad decisions sometimes.

 

Not to mention, I can ride my motorcycles almost every day of the year. 80 degrees today, and for the next 3 or 4 days as well.

 

I am jealous, we get maybe 4 -5 good months if we are lucky to ride our motorcycles here in PA. And that's if it isn't raining.

 

Hey Now, I don't complain that much about my Tundra but today just wasn't a good day. Just puzzling that these vehicles can run for a million miles yet have terrible brake design.

 

Something's gotta be eff'd up, just be happy it's the brakes. Those are easy enough to improve.

I've got no beef with the brakes on my '06.

 

Lots of good truck oiling recipes on this site.

 

To be fair, the slide pins on the front calipers aren't just a Toyota thing. It's the same design used on all vehicles with fixed calipers -- including high end vehicles like Mercedes, Volvo, etc.. And they all use fixed calipers because it's a vastly superior design to floating calipers like those used on Ford and Chevy trucks of the era.

Now the hard lines directly off the calipers is another thing altogether. I just don't understand the logic behind that. I've not seen that on any other vehicle -- even other Toyotas. (It's done on all Toyota trucks, but not Toyota cars)

 

Well IMO it's a ridiculous concept and do not really care for it. The solid lines are also a stupid idea that's for sure.

 

Yep

 

I suppose it depends on if you live somewhere where they salt the roads. I lived in Montana and they don’t, mostly gravel. Only the highway department uses brine. Got a wash membership for the truck and washed it once a week or more with the underbody spray. Never had a problem. My truck is an 08 and I’ve only had it 4 years about. Did brakes once and was able to pound them out. I took a wire wheel to the calipers and repainted with black caliper paint, and got all the rust off the slide pins. I’m going to pull them soon and replace with fresh pins “just in case” as the presumably originals were rough but serviceable and the dealer was closed when I was doing the job otherwise I would have gotten new ones. I slathered in copper anti seize in the holes and on the pins where they went to the caliper. I would think wouldn’t be a bad idea for anyone who lives in snow country where they salt the roads to pull the pins once a year an reapply anti seize. Replace pins as needed

 

I'm actually surprised nobody makes a kit for this up front, specifically, with a tab that terminates the hard line to a fixed position, where a rubber or braided line would plug into and extend to the caliper, just like virtually every other vehicle I've owned.

I don't have any complaints about the quality of braking I get (I don't tow heavy stuff), but I'd be lying if I said I'm not looking forward to pad changes for this sole reason.