Stock brake system versus brakeless trailer towing. Is 1st Gen up to it?

Hard braking warps rotors. Drop the hammer & go through or over obstacles.

 

my truck came with aftermarket trailer brakes so it can prob stop stuff fairly well, however you must remember its not just the load but length that can be an issue. How the weight is distributed is also an issue. I recently bought my rig to be a work rig, there are not many straight panels on it, with p. o a long trailer started fish tailing, threw him into guard rail on left and then into ditch on right...all side swipes...after that experience he bought a 2014 tundra.

 

No offense taken. I just remember how shitty any GM truck's brakes were once you break into the mid-late 1970s. Similar year range in GM trucks to our FGT, not even a contest. The Sierra I gave up before buying my 1st gen took its sweet as time to brake and pedal was mushy as hell. And it was super low mile. I rebuilt everything trying to resolve it, but it's just what it was. My non-power-brakes '68 C10 had better braking.

 

Ok, said I would post after I got thru with my brake system upgrades. I held off posting until I had driven a road trip towing a loaded trailer: pulled a trailer with my kubota bx2360 from Cocoa Beach, Fl to Johns Island, Sc. Summary of upgrades:
- new oem shoes on rear brakes. cleaned everything up really good, lubed as recommended. cleaned adjusters. adjusted adjusters so shoes were tight to dums. adjusted bell cranks. adjusted emergency brake cables tight.
- modified linkage to lspv: replaced eyebolt with longer threaded rod so that lspv is always at max flow/pressure. rationale: truck has abs, I want rear wheel brakes to be powerful enough to “lockup”, then allow abs to control & prevent skidding.
- replaced front brakes, with new Gx460 rotors & calipers, Powerstop towing pads, and stainless steel overbraid flex lines. Had ears on calipers machined 3.5mm.
- thorough flush of brake fluid, and good bleed of lspv, rear brake cylinders, and then front calipers. will probably do one more round, just to “say i did”.
- installed Adco rear sway bar.

Pictures: can’t figure out how to insert, let me know how and I will.

Outcome: brakes are much, much better. Fronts are definitely, noticeably more powerful.

 

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That aftermarket threaded rod on your LSBP valve ain’t right.

 

I didn't want to say anything, but lemme tell you: That LSPV is WIDE open

Can't get less bias than that out back, so definitely no need to adjust the rears

 

“Wide open” lspv was the only way I could get the rear wheels to skid (indicating max braking). As soon as they start skidding, abs kicks in and controls. The “aftermarket” threaded rod & bracket was my own concoction, fabbed from stuff I had laying around the garage, and a lot cheaper and less labor to install than a maual proportioning valve, which would require continual fiddling with depending on how the truck was loaded.

Nobody commented on the Addco sway bar and Bilstein shocks (handles good), and “trick” set-up for pressurizing the master cylinder.

Just did the timing belt (w/ water pump etc.), and valve cover gaskets a few months ago. Truck has 89k miles. (Old timing belt looks pristine).

Next major effort on the truck will be paint above the beltline, to correct failed clearcoat. Bought the HF Blackwidow and gonna do single stage urethane in my garage.

 

Oh, and yes you do need to keep the rears adjusted tight regardless, to minimize peddle travel. The mismatch between the stock master cylinder and the new bigger front calipers adds a little extra peddle travel, so keeping any slack out of the hydraulics keeps that in check.

 

Would love to do a “Waltrip- esque” mod to the front grille (or to an aftermarket one), before I do the painting : what’s the best / easiest option for this?

 

Best bet is to find one of the FMS sports grilles and rehab it. That's what I did, and I made a writeup for anyone hunting for the same look: https://www.tundras.com/threads/1st-gen-darrell-waltrip-fms-grille-info-dump.147323/

Knowing what area (of FL?) you're from could help someone help you source something. It's important to know the double cab version won't properly fit your access cab truck.

Sometimes searching around for "Waltrip tundra" will net you what you're looking for on a parts truck to snatch one from. Sometimes it helps to mispell it waLLtrip. It wasn't exclusive to the Waltrip, it was also on the Yamaha edition Tundras and some people bought them from the dealer. I've seen Waltrip trucks also on www.car-part.com for ads that have pictures, but see that thread for what you need to watch out for.

To "build you own", I saw one person's advice online, maybe on another Tundra forum. They basically:

• Took the stock grille,
• Carefully cut out the two horizontal bars,
• Got some scrap ABS plastic to make crescent-shaped plugs to fill the holes where the bars met the outer frame
• Shaved off a pile of ABS plastic shavings, mixed with real-deal Acetone (not the fake stuff) to make ABS slurry, and ABS-welded the notches in
• Sanded everything down, used body filler to smooth the inner circle out
• Screwed a screen to the back side of the grille (they may've added some extra bosses by ABS welding chunks in at the support locations you'll see in my thread, where the metal screen bolts into)

I had quite a few hours of work into mine, but it was the look I wanted, and it's not like you can find them paint-matched already very easy.

 

If anybody is interested in a set of OEM 13wl rotors and calipers, if you pay the shipping from 32931, I’ll send them to you. They’re alittle crusty, but could be cleaned up with a wire wheel, and were functional when I took them off. The rotors are a little warped (pedal pulsation) but not bad.