Big brake conversion: What do you recommend...

[NorthernWoodsman]

Okay, so I am hoping to swap the brakes next week so I have good brakes for my road trip in September to Port Townsend for the Wooden Boat Festival, Victoria, B.C., Tofino, B.C., and the San Juan Islands. Right now the brakes have a horrible pulsing/wobble when applied so it is beyond time for them to be replaced. I know not many of you own the older Toyota trucks (3rd gen.), but I think you can offer the advice I'm looking for anyhow.

I am planning on doing a big brake conversion on my truck to either the T100 or Tundra front brake set up; i.e. discs, rotors, calipers, m.c.

What I am wanting to know is what brands do people recommend? I am hesitant to go to the dealer for parts even though I like OEM stuff and I like to upgrade to nicer stuff when I can afford to. So, are there any particularly recommended companies I should source my rotors, calipers, and pads from?

Also, is there much, if any, difference between the T100 and Tundra front brakes? Just want to be sure I'm going with the proper setup and ordering the right parts the first time around. Oh, I am running 15x7 wheels so I know T100 parts will fit, just not sure about the Tundra parts.

Thanks!

 

[NorthernWoodsman]

I did the tundra conversion on my taco but I know nothing about whats needed specifically for the older pickups.

For brands I went with brembo rotors, not slotted or drilled, they came highly reccomended. I still go with oem brake pads as it seems I get the best performance / longevity. The calipers I went with oem re-mans. Theyre also pretty cheap to pull from a working vehicle at a salavge yard.

One thing I ran into... to marry the stock brake lines to the new calipers I used a set of thick crush washers. Had a bit of a meeting issue on the first attempt. Alot of people replace the brake lines when doing this one to avoid any of these issues, I didnt see a need. With the thicker crush washer all is good.

Were the Brembo's expensive? They sound it.

OEM pads and reman calipers bought from where? The dealer? Or just a parts store? What brand is OEM on brake parts anyway?

Thanks

 

[corax]

What year is your truck? I think only the Tacos and '95+ 4runners have the option of Tundra brakes (without getting more complicated & custom than things need to be).

My $.02 is to check the calipers you have now - if they have the "S13 WB" cast mark on them, you already have the T100 calipers. If that's the case, get a quality set of Hawk LTS pads and either PowerSlot or some other quality solid rotor - skip the idea of cross drilled & chances are you don't even need slotted.

Here's what I did on my '88 4runner, it recently pulled a 2 ton trailer 4,500 miles from PA -> CO -> SoCal and up the coast to OR with ZERO braking issues:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/58610-Corax-s-1st-gen-RN61-4runner?p=849955#post849955

If you really wanna go hog wild, there's a bit of reading for you here:
http://www.ultimateyota.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=6351.msg64036

 

[corax]

Oh yeah, the V6 4runner and T100 calipers are the same and '86-'95 used pretty much the same front suspension on pick-em-up trucks and 4runners, so there's a lot of bolt on interchangability

BTW, I've been impressed recently by the quality and price of the rebuilds being sold under the "Eclipse" name at Napa Auto Stores

Here's the "S13 WB" cast mark that indicates these are T100/V6 4runner calipers (look to the right):

 

[NorthernWoodsman]

Thanks for all of the info folks and Corax, thanks for the link to the thread . I wasn't sure about the Tundra option or not, but figured I'd ask. I priced out some Hawk pads today at a local parts shop and am pretty sure that's what I'll be going with. Still figuring out the caliper and rotors though. Calling a place tomorrow to see if they have the rotors and if not then I might go with Brembo's like pau-hana mentioned as I found some for a good price....if they can ship them to me fast enough.

So, did I understand your thread correctly Corax in that you ended up using a 1" bore master cylinder? I saw that Martin Crawler has one, but it's kinda spendy. Found some others online for a little less, but not sure about the quality. It looks like Aisin is OEM so I am gonna try to locate one locally tomorrow. Maybe I'll see if I can get Aisin calipers too???

Can't wait to get the upgrade done!

Oh, a couple more questions: This is my first try at a complete brake job. Is there anything special I need to know? Are there any special tools I need? My repair manual talks about making sure the wheel bearing nut is tightened properly. Is this tricky to do? Once I have replaced everything and have it all back together are there any things I need to check? I know I will need to bleed the brake lines, of course, and trim the backing plate for the rotors.

 

[corax]

Yep, the 1" master cylinder is good with the upgraded calipers. If you're not doing the calipers right away, and your pedal doesn't slowly sink to the floor with the brakes applied, then I wouldn't bother with the 1" MC (all it will do without the calipers is give a stiffer pedal / make you push harder to stop). I really like Marlin Crawler, but the master cylinder is overpriced. I've had good luck in the past with ebay master cylinders for ~$35. The one I have now, I got at a junkyard for $10 - it looked relatively new and clean on the truck it was in and has worked perfect so far.

Everything is pretty straight-forward, just make sure you follow torque specs. You might want to have an impact gun handy for the bolts that hold the rotor to the hub. Bearing preload is very important and you might want to call in someone that's in the biz if you've never done it before - pretty simple really, but if you get it wrong you can cook the bearings fairly quick.

BTW, where are you in Portland?

 

[NorthernWoodsman]

Okay, this is sounding like it might be out of my range of capabilities. I don't own an impact gun nor a compressor (I suppose I could rent them for a day...or two). As for the bearings, that concerns me since I don't want to screw this up right before I leave on a road trip.

Any tips on how not to f'up the bearings and make sure I do them right? My repair manuals do not give much instructions concerning them.

I live in between SE Powell and SE Division right near Mt. Tabor (SE 67th).

 

[corax]

Don't let me discourage you! You should be able to bust the rotor bolts loose without an impact gun, the power tools just makes it easier and reduce the amount of struggle. As for the bearings, the key is to tighten the adjuster decently hand tight while spinning the hub, back the adjuster off till it just starts to spin loose and then tighten until it just starts to meet resistance. The first part of that process removes all the freeplay and helps everything seat and then just a little bit of preload is added - it isn't as touchy as I may have made it sound, just don't leave the adjuster loose and don't tighten it down hard.

 

[NorthernWoodsman]

So, I think I am gonna go with the calipers from Napa, they're Eclipse/Ultrim/Affinia for $51.99 ea. However, I can get OE calipers from the local Toyota dealer for $102.05 ea.

Are the Napa parts gonna be quality remans or would I be better off spending the extra cost on the ones from Toyota?

 

[corax]

I've been happy with the Eclipse brand I got from NAPA (one on the 4runner, one on the is300), everything that I could see told me they were put together right and they even come with all the anti-squeal hardware and clips. I also know of a few other people that bought that brand and haven't had any issues. In contrast, I went through 3 from AutoPoop before I got one that didn't leak. So I would say: save a few bucks and get the Eclipse calipers from NAPA