Power Stop Z36 Install

I picked up the Power Stop Front & Rear Z36 Truck and Tow Brake Kit (

$475 K2813-36 Front and Rear Truck & Tow Drilled and Slotted Rotors and Z36 Brake Pads Brake Kit For 2007-2021 Toyota Tundra | 2008-2020 Sequoia | 2016-2021 Land Cruiser | 2016-2021 Lexus LX570

K2813-36) on Amazon on Black Friday for $370. I see that it is now $507 on Amazon and $503 at Summit Racing. I was going to sit on them until I needed to replace my original brakes on my 2017 Tundra DC (currently 54,000 miles). My brakes have been working fine and lots of pad was left front and back, maybe 35% (4-5mm), so I was going to let it ride but I just went over the brakes because I am leaving on a 5400 mile trip out west towing a camper weighing 7800 lbs. The front outside rotors and pads looked great but the pads were not making good contact on 5/8" of the center of the inside rotor (see pics). Both front rotors were the same and the calipers were moving feely - maybe corrosion? So I decided to do the replacement now. I found the rotors on the rear were starting to develop the same pattern but narrower - maybe 3/8". I could have let the brakes go another 30 - 40,000 miles based on the appearance of outside rotors. Difficult to see the inside unless you remove the pads.

The install went fine. Finding the correct rotor position on the rear to access the parking brake shoe adjuster to back them off was a little difficult. Based on the clock face, it is about 6:30 on the right and 4:00 on the left. I took care cleaning up the hubs prior to installing the rotors and runout was acceptable. I had to index the front left rotor to lower the runout a little. The other three were fine on initial install. Runout values were FL 0.0015", FR 0.0005" (vs Toyota spec of 0.002" max); RL 0.002", RR 0.002" (vs Toyota spec of 0.008" max). Did the break-in per the recommended procedure and we will see how it goes. Brakes very smooth at this point - no pedal pulsation. I will report back after my trip.

 

Very helpful. I had the Z36 kit on my F150 and found them to be a vast improvement over stock. While I know you said that everything fit well, were there any other "gotchas" during the installation other than the rear positioning as you mentioned?

 

Tag, Im planning on getting this also when the time comes, definitely would like hear your feedback.

 

Since you asked, will give you my thoughts. I identified several tools I use. I feel good about spending the money on tools that I am saving by doing the job myself.

1. The pad were not shrink wrapped as a pair. Two of the front pads have wear indicators (screamers) - one goes on each of front wheels. Other than that, they are identical. The back pads are identical and none have screamers. The rotors are directional and marked indicating which wheel they go on.

2. On the front, the pins that hold the pads in were a little difficult to remove. I used a punch to drive them out. They were cruddy and a little corroded. Maybe this had something to do with why my original pads/rotors wore unevenly. I reused them after cleaning them up on my grinder using the wire wheel and lubricating them. They slid back into place easily. I may replace them next time I rotate the tires - they are $2.49 list each and you need 4 (part# 90240-06024).

3. The FSM procedure says to replace the bolts that hold the caliper bracket to the hub assembly. My dealership did not have them in stock indicating to me that the Toyota Techs weren't replacing them so I reused them. Maybe I will replace them next time - they are $2.50 list each and you need 4 (part#90105-A0336).

4. Need to remember to readjust the parking brake shoes out after the new rear rotors are installed. Even when I knew where the parking brake shoe adjuster was, I had a hard time feeling for it with a screwdriver. Need to be dead on it and I couldn't see it through the adjustment hole - PITA. I ended up using a cheapy endoscope that I had to make sure I was in the correct position which I thought was way overkill but it helped. Link to that follows.

$37 DEPSTECH Wireless Endoscope, IP67 Waterproof WiFi Borescope Inspection 2.0 Megapixels HD Snake Camera for Android and iOS Smartphone, iPhone, iPad, Samsung -Black(11.5FT)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MYTHWK4?ie=UTF8

5. Some complaints on this forum about these rotors "warping" over time. I will see how they do. In general, I think the key to avoiding this on any disc brake job is minimizing the rotor runout on the install and doing a good job with the break-in procedure. Power Stop recommends a very specific break-in procedure which is in the box. To minimize runout, I carefully clean all the dirt and corrosion off the hubs before installing the rotors using a pneumatic angle air grinder with the 3M Roloc Brake Hub Cleaning Kit. Have attached a link to a video showing how I do it. I take about 5 minutes on each wheel cleaning the hub and end up much cleaner than shown on the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjT2Khn-FtI

6. After placing the rotor on the hub, I tighten it down using all 5 lug nuts. The Tundra lug nuts are nice as they are long enough to seat on the rotor without the wheel in place. Then I measure the runout using the rig in the link. If it is too high, I loosen the lug nuts, index the rotor one lug and do it again ultimately placing the rotor in the position that gives me a runout that's in spec. Then I mark the lug and the rotor so that if I remove the rotor in the future, I can put it back in this position. The FSM says to measure the runout 10mm from the rotor outer edge but you don't have much room between the end of the slot and the outer edge so you have to be closer than that.

$70 TÜRLEN Disc Brake Rotor Gauge Ball Joint Runout Set Dial Indicator 1"/0.0005" Flexible Arm Clamp Locking Vise

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LML96RI?ie=UTF8

7. Power Stop has some generic rotor runout guidelines on their website but references you back to the manufacturer. Toyota's specs are much tighter for the front wheels. Max runout should be less than 0.05mm or 0.00197 inches - I use max of 0.002 inches. The rear rotor runout is not as critical and can be as high as 0.008 inches but I shoot for much better than that.

8. I am careful to not overtighten the lug nuts when replacing the wheel as it can also cause rotor "warping". Spec for the aluminum wheels is about 100 ft-lbs.

 

I installed a Z36 set (pads and rotors) on the front of a '90 Jeep Comanche that I used to have (rear drums) and it made a huge difference. When I bought my '13 Tundra used with 31K miles, I was a little disappointed with the brakes. Had to stay down pretty hard on the pedal when stopped to keep the truck from creeping forward (actually bumped a car in front of me at a stoplight once). No harm, no foul. But I bought a set of Z36 pads only and installed them on the OEM rotors. In this installation, they also made a huge difference. As the OP stated, be sure to follow the break-in procedure. Truck now has over 170K miles on it with approx 135K on the Z36 pads with no problems with the brakes and no indication that they need servicing anytime soon.

 

Holy cow! You win the award for more helpful post ever! Definitely ordering the Z36 kit and tagging your post for me to refer back to. FWIW - I didn't experience warping on the rear Z36 kit I installed on my F150 a few years back.

 

Thank you. I hope the info helps. One thing I forgot to mention is that I had to buy a brake caliper press for the front wheels. The quad piston set up requires that you press back all four pistons at once otherwise the ones not under pressure pop back out - the tool I have is designed to wind back single piston calipers that have the ratchet e-brake set up. Thought I could figure out how to make it work but was unsuccessful. Link to tool I bought follows. I bought it at local NAPA as I needed it now and was fortunate that they had it on sale for $42. It was a Carlyle but was just a rebranded Lang tool...see now that NAPA up to $55 on-line. Worked perfect.

$51 Lang Tools 279-5420 279 Brake Caliper Press

https://www.amazon.com/Lang-Tools-279-5420-Brake-Caliper/dp/B0079GQKDE

 

Super helpful. I just have the standard press that only does one side. I'll purchase the tool you linked to.

 

How bad is the dust?

 

NO dust. NONE!

 

wow I have never done more than change rotor and pads

 

Feedback on install promised in original post...

I installed the PowerStop Z36 Pads & Rotors and drove 6500 miles to Arizona and back to the midwest over 6 weeks towing my 8,000 lb camper. The brakes performed very well with no pedal pulsation at any point and handled all the grades including the climb up to Davis Mountains State Park and down to the bottom of Palo Duro Canyon in Texas. Had a great time and stayed in San Antonio, Sedona, Zion and Santa Fe to name a few places. I just did my post-trip maintenance which included a tire rotation so took a good look at the rotors and pads. Everything looked really good - no evidence of any discoloration, streaks or stripes on the rotors. Some small amount of dust in the slots but no abnormal build up on the wheels. Very satisfied.