What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

No, that works. I fixed that last year. Right now I get no engagement until I’m 2/3rds down on the brake pedal.

 

LSPV?

 

If that was the case, the rear brakes wouldn’t be working much at all. Now whether the LSPV can have a small air leak and still function appropriately, I don’t know. Corrosion is always a factor.

 

What method did you use to bleed?

 

This could be a factor.


The rears I bleed with the truck running, doesn't do well otherwise.

 

Interesting

 

Just don't make the same mistake another fella did in here recently, and throw it into 'P' while spinning wheels up on jackstands

 

What was the original reason for your brake bleeding fiasco?

I have yet to see what lives behind my drums. I know they're rusted in place and are gonna be horrible to remove. I'm just waiting for some god-awful noise back there and then I'll dive in.

My brakes feel fine even when pulling a trailer, pedal is a bit heavy but it doesn't feel inadequate, maybe I'm missing out on the feeling of bigger brakes, but it's getting me by.

 

I wanted to get the old grayish green fluid out and replace it with new dot 3/4 fluid. Brakes were good for a few days with a progressive brake feel through the full travel of the pedal but went back to how they were (no brake feel until 2/3rds into travel - near the bottom of the pedal).

 

I always bleed my brakes with the truck running. I never understand how someone could do it with the truck off because the pedal gets impossible to push after a few pumps.

 

Really? I’ve never had an issue. You pump it 3 times, hold it down until the person at the wheel opens the bleeder so you can push it the rest of the way towards the floor (but not over extending the pedal by applying too much force).

 

I used the Speedi-Bleed method (bottle with positive pressure on MC) as you all know by now. No need to run the vehicle when doing it. Even the two person method is done without the vehicle running and I've NEVER had an issue with that.

I guess I don't get the advantage of doing it with the vehicle running unless you're doing the two man chump-pump method.

 

Bro, couple BFH whacks on the face and sides to free it up, and if it's not coming loose, there are threaded holes in in for a reason. Easy peasy. Don't wait for something to come up. And have a couple cans of brakleen in the wings so you can clean that joker up. May as well high-heat paint the drums.

Anticipating my next Q...

Anyway, I'd bleed again, and make sure your bleeder are tight. Sounds like to me you may have a small leak.

 

One thing I don’t get is if there’s air in the system, won’t the brakes feel spongey, or not always?

 

I thought that's what you were describing, is it not? I've had both late engagement and spongey pedal-feel from air in the system. I don't differentiate between the two. Poorly adjusted drums will also cause late-engage. "Spongey" to me is slow engagement. So maybe "late engage" and "slow" engagement" is the better way to describe?

I've also had blown booster and blown MC seal cause late engagement.

 

Ok, then it’s probably air in the system since it was fine after bleeding for a few days. It would suck if I had to replace an LSPV. Those go for $220 online.

 

Some days my brakes feel great and other days not as good. I have never been able to make sense of it. I've wondered if my booster has a slight issue.

A month or so back they got a little spongy so I jacked up the rear. I could hear the passenger side lightly dragging the shoe but not the driver side. I gave the star adjuster a few clicks and that helped my brakes. Even though my parking brake works very well I don't think the self adjusters always work correctly. Just another reason to hate the rear drums.

 

Finally greased my driveline zerks over the weekend. All 8 done. I had to tap and install a zerk at the slip yoke. There was a hole there, but it was not threaded and was too small for a m6-1.0 zerk. Metal was crazy soft, I nearly over bored it but I think it’s fine. The front 4wd zerk was tough to get to as were the front two on the double cardan joint. So I modified the grease gun tip with a grinder as shown by others and it worked. Pics below.

 

This is so weird to me. And there's nothing in the other side, eh? There has to be some explanation here....

But more important, did it fix the issue?

 

I might need to just do this mod myself. Been looking for a specific tip to grease those joints, but no luck so far.

 

I did the same per other peoples suggestions. Just grinded a slanted edge on one side of the grease gun tip, fits perfectly in that tough spot on the 4x4 shaft.

 

Even with a pressure bleed or a vacuum bleed, I had a soft pedal until I bled the rears with it running.

 

I mean ... they sell these right-angle tips, which is what I use on hard-to-access fittings when it makes sense. I have an 8" flex lead on my gun and it helps get into some fun spots, even without this:

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But there's always the method a lot of other dude use, which PHM posted a couple years back

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Yeah, I've seen those tips, just haven't been able to get a hold of one. Tried to order online a few times, but the orders kept getting canceled. But, from what I remember, ain't nothing wrong with a little bump and grind.

 

How does that even help? Is there some sort of pump that assists in getting it to bleed from what I'm reading about vehicles today? My brake system is pretty basic, no ABS included.

 

I know, it’s bizarre. There was for sure nothing on the other side. He had been greasing it because there was a grease line flung all over everything under there. Maybe he had the part replaced at some point without a zerk? But the hole was for sure too small. That stuff tapped like pine. I could barely tighten the zerk without being afraid of stripping the metal out.

Good news is it absolutely fixed the “thunk” problem.

 

Just much more pressure with the power assist to push air out of the rear lines.

You could pick up 3 russel speed bleeders for the rear to DIY.

 

And here I am trying to avoid the Russell speed bleeders so I got the pressurized bottle method thinking it would be better.

 

When I got the truck I couldn't even get the back wheels off they were one with the hub. Took a torch and a million whacks with a hammer to get both rear wheels off. On my camry I blew out the threaded holes trying to get the drums off with jack bolts and I'm pretty sure I damaged the drums in the process as well.

If it would come off easy I'd happily look into it but I don't do a lot of long distance driving in it and I did the same on my camry, just drove it till I heard grinding and replaced every bit of the drum brake system and good to go.