Brake calipers continue to fail

I have owned my 2003 V8 tundra for about 10 years now. I have put at least 4 calipers on the thing since then, I have honestly lost track at this point. I always torque the mounting hardware to factory spec. I've only ever bought reman calipers from auto parts stores. Sometimes the driver side caliper will seize up, sometimes it's the passenger side. They usually last a couple years then something goes wrong. I installed all new braided stainless brake lines front and rear a couple months ago and bled the brakes, fresh fluid throughout the whole system. I noticed yesterday that my driver side caliper is now dragging. It will not easily free spin and the pads are now noticeably lower on that side. I'm at a loss for words at this point. You occasionally have to replace calipers but this is not normal. Something is causing these calipers to seize up. The truck has the original master cylinder on it but everything else has been replaced. Has anyone else had a similar issue with the first gen?

 

When they seize are the pistons rusted?

salty air or do you drive on the beach?

 

Yes I do drive on the beach but always hose everything down afterwords. When I remove and inspect the calipers, nothing appears rusty. I have been having these issues before I ever lived by the beach.

 

I’ve swapped my non-OEM front caliper on my drivers side 3 times. It’s got a lifetime warranty from Oreilly’s. I got them when I did my 13we to 13wl swap. Now, what we all need to be aware of is that “lifetime warranty” parts from the LAPS means you’ll be replacing that part periodically for a lifetime. Usually the lower inboard piston on mine. OEM likely would not behave this way.

 

This is most likely your problem.

And I'm not being snarky here, or elitist, or purist, or anything of the sort with my comment. It's just a matter of part quality decline at the LAPS more than anything. "Lifetime warranty" isn't a claim of longevity anymore, it's a warning that the part will fail sooner than you think, but they'll gladly replace it if you don't lose your proof of purchase or sell the vehicle. Your loss is time and any collateral parts and materials you need to buy. In the end, it's a win for them and loss of time and money for you.

I'd prefer OEM because, fuck, it lasted more than 10yrs right? But honestly I'd probably go get a set of Powerstop S2712 from a reputable source and call it a day, Summit had the best price when I checked recently. Or go OEM. I doubt there's anything wrong with your system unless you're doing something ignorant like not using a MC reservoir cap. Brake fluid is hygroscopic, so it'll absorb water and rot your lines inside out. I'd be tempted to blow out my lines though, in case there is corrosion. I believe your 2003 has 13WL, so that's the proper 1:1 caliper to get.

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I have considered the powerstop calipers. I have been on the fence about buying them because I'm not sure if something within the braking system is causing these calipers to fail. And I'm also not sure if the powerstop ones are just reman calipers with a red powdercoat job and their logo slapped on the side.

 

The power stop are 100% remans of factory calipers. But hopefully to a higher standard here in the US of A.

 

The answer is in their FAQ, right on their website. They do take cores, determine whether in-spec, and rebuild right here in the USA. The difference being, a lot of the 'lifetime warranty' bullshit parts are being rebuilt in India, Indonesia, China, and anywhere else they can pay peanuts on the dollar, while getting high volume of product out, so they can afford 20-30% failure rate while still making nice profit. I prefer rebuilt in USA, because not only does it bolster our economy and citizens, the quality of labor domestically tends to be much higher. Not saying every LAPS sources reman parts from overseas. But I know many of them do. Even Toyota remans their parts domestically.

 

My guess it moisture and salt is causing rust to form inside the caliper cylinders, and the piston is seizing up. This wouldn't be visible unless you completely disassemble the calipers. Push out pistons and sand down the surface rust on the cylinders, apply Silglyde to the cylinders and pistons.

If you don't trust the seals and pistons they use for the Powerstops, but trust the caliper core, you can put OEM seals and pistons:

OEM seal kit for 13WLs (should be for all 8 pistons): 04479-60080
OEM caliper piston for 13WL (one piston each): 47731-0C020

 

If you are not aware of how auto parts store parts are manufactured, it might surprise you. I dont know how i ended up seeing them (on social media), i think a suggested reel that i watched to its full length, and then started getting suggested more reels by these people to watch. These particular reels are sweat shops probably in India or Tajikistan or some unknown place in the Phillipines with people, in mud huts and stick shacks barefooted making auto parts. Everything from shocks, to brake pads and rotors, to bearings, its so crazy to watch them melt down a pile of rubbish and pour it into sand castings and machine parts on a bicycle powered lathe and box them up into boxes for auto parts stores. Watching them build the shock absorbers was absolutely glorious. I have not seen a video on brake calipers yet but i suspect there is some sweat shop built out of tree twigs somewhere that is building brake calipers on a dirt floor with barefooted people being machined and assembled in the worst conditions possible with a lack of go-no-go tolerances.
The box stores are selling lifetime calipers for $39 because they are buying them somewhere for $2 each, meaning some sweat shop in some place in the world is building them FOR PROFIT at $1-$2 each. The machining, tolerances, build quality, are very very poor, its cheap for a reason, dont expect OEM machining and plating out of a part that is 1/3rd the cost.
I work in a specific line, and try to push people to use OEM parts when we have to replace something. I have tested everything on the market and know what works and what doesnt and the OEM stuff is $785 and will last you a solid xxx miles. There is a china shop that produces a copy, they and other vendors sell on Amazon for $389, its a great buy but only lasts you about 1/4th the miles of OEM. There is a company (fairly big name) that buys these China repops and sells them for $650 with a one year warranty but passes them off as OEM or OEM replacement. Most of them will get just past the one year date before they fail, but they are going to fail. Sure every now and again those folks probably gotta replace one or two for customers but generally they last just long enough to get people down the road.

To be realistic, the china company is likely rebuilding that part for $30 and so selling them at $300+ is a MASSIVE mark-up and major profits. If you dont mind constantly replacing it, buy the cheap one. If you want to put it together and forget about it, buy the more expensive OEM one.

 

oohhh.
Salt gets into places, and moisture from salt gets into places. Washing it down with a hose doesnt fix the problem, i had a similar issue many years ago, on a machine that was quite a few years old at the time. An ATV that i used for chores, yard work, pulling logs, spraying grass, ect ect ect. Perfect machine, crazy high mileage, super dependable. I did a bunch of clearing and seeded 5ish acres with new grass and also put out about a half pallet of fertilizer with one of those ATV rack fertilizer spreaders. The bracket bolts to the back of the rack, and the big tub hangs off the back of the ATV rack. I noticed the fertilizer made a white dust that was getting all over my rack and rear frame section so as soon as i was done i hosed it all off real good. Since this was a new area of seedling grass i fertilized it two more times over that summer, about a half pallet each time. The second time i made a big cardboard box thing to block the dust from getting to the rear frame section, it really didnt work, the white dust still got on the frame. I immediately hosed everything off afterwards, got it spick and span each time. The following year, both rear calipers were rusted open and would not work, both cylinders were rusted solid. The rear rack mounts rusted thru as did the rear frame rack mounts. The whole rear frame tubes were solid rust.
Just because you wash it off, doesnt mean the damage wasnt done and isnt going to continue to erode away at the metal.

 

I’d just add to this last bit. I think it’s worth noting: Brakes are a safety system. A critical one at that. I’d ask: Knowing how a lot of the parts store chain parts are rebuilt, do you REALLY trust some dude in a sweat shop to get it right, when your life is on the line? Do you really think the company will own up for your bills, pain, and suffering?

I’d have a hard time knowing I skimped out to save a couple bucks only to land myself in a lifetime of regrets if it failed. At least with OEM, there’s a reputation and a higher chance of recompense with a good lawyer.

 

Most of the LAPS parts like these are remans. Cores that get turned in get rehabbed to some standard (or not) and get cleaned and freshly painted and put back in a new box. The rehab process varies widely. Starters and alternators seem to just get cleaned and painted and sent right back out, not rebuilt at all based on the high number of these that fail right outta the box. @des2mtn hit on a good idea with buying a quality reman, but replacing the seals and pistons with new OEM ones essentially rebuilding them at your house. Could rebuild the ones you have if the cylinder bores aren't pitted, but there's downtime for that.

 

I get what you're saying but this problem has been happening for years, before I ever lived by the ocean. Pistons in the calipers are never rusty, boots are sealed. Nothing finding its way into the inner workings of the caliper. They are failing due to some other factor, probably cheap reman construction and poor tolerance issues.

 

I feel your pain. My 2001 has been thru 7 pair of calipers and I don’t live near any ocean. I have yet to figure this issue out myself. I take them apart yearly to clean and lube. Still doesn’t help.

 

Dang dude, only thing i could think would be water in the brake fluid. Water will rust the lines from the inside out, and probably oxidize the calipers from the inside out. Considering they are aluminum, (whoopsie they are steel but likely could rust or corrode) i would venture to guess the aluminum oxidizes inside, and the white flaky dust gets into the cross-over ports and stops them up similar to how a carb jets gets stopped up from the ethanol oxidizing the inside of the carb bowl.

 

Agree on this. That was my line of thinking above. I'm wondering if the truck suffered some kind of contamination event that led to inside-the-lines corrosion, and OP is just seeing side effects of that.

If it was the case though, I'd expect OP would be seeing little fragments of shit in the recovery tank at the caliper while bleeding though. Every time he's bleeding.

 

Do you have OEM calipers that you're just rebuilding every time they fail? Or are you getting reman calipers?

 

When i got my truck it had a small leak in my master cylinder that would make the brakes drag. Pulled my calipers apart & cleaned, hut the seals seemed fine, so i was just extra careful putting em back together. The fluid that was in the rear system was tinged pretty green, but those cylinders were clean, too.

 

I wish this was my issue. I have a pressurized brake bleeder and fluid is cheap, so all my vehicles get new fluid yearly.