Hi guys,

Ever since I bought the truck 2 years ago (2009 sr5 4runner with 85000kms), whenever I reverse, then brake, There seems to be a "clunk" noise from the front brakes. I believe it's from the front drivers side, but unsure. It only happens when I reverse, and engage the brakes, and only usually once. No issues braking at all, and no sounds when braking from driving forward.

I have never worked on brakes, but nothing appears to be wrong with them, the pads have lots of life left in them.

The noise sounds kinda like a metal clang, or clunk. Like something was loose, then engaged. If I back up more, then again depress the brake pedal it will do it again.

Any suggestions of what this could be?

break springs?

When is the last time you greased your driveshafts/slips yokes/u-joints?

Sounds like a caliper is moving a bit. You can try to move forward and backward with a small prybar. Shouldn't be any perceptible movement. And yes on greasing drive line.

I had a similar noise on mine. I could recreate the noise by applying the brakes, putting the car in neutral or drive, and turn the wheel back and forth slowly. Turned out to be that the lower control arm bolts were not torqued all the way, causing some play and resulting in the "clunk". Tightened them up and was good to go. No issues since.

Also worth checking lower shock bolt, body mounts, sway bar, the two bolts under the lower control arm ball joint.

Is it after market pad and shims? Sounds like pad shift to me, usually caused by size even if slightly different from OEM it will do almost like a click clank noise only.

I had a similar issue and it ended up being the front pads catching/shifting ever so slightly on the pad pins. It didn’t effect the operation of the brakes at all, just annoying. I ended up putting 4 new OEM pad springs on, and sanding/cleaning/buffing the pins. No more noise.


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Thanks guys for the replies.

to answer some questions.....drift shafts are always greased religiously with oil changes. Everything suspension wise is all torqued down, and marked. No issues there.

I'm confident it's 100% the brakes. I think it's pad shift from everything everyone has said. I've never changed them. I assume it's OEM as the previous owner did everything at Toyota. When the brakes end up needing replacing, or any component of them, I'll do the 5th gen upgrade, and it'll resolve the issue.

Until then, it'll just be a little annoying, click/clank, when reversing and braking.

Cheers all,
Will

It is actually much more common, most people just don't notice it. My 08' does the same thing and my brother-in-law has the same "issue" on his 16' Jeep GC. He took it to a dealer and they said it is part of the system engaging or something and normal. Haven't been able to isolate the source but everything looks/feels good. It is discussed on here and other forums with plenty of speculation (pad shift, parking brake related, etc..) but from what I've read and the dealer told my brother it seems to be some sort of trigger releasing/posturing the system. Nothing to worry about, just a little annoying.

Thanks for the info. I'm very OCD with noises, and notice even the slightest creaking or vibration in my rig. I like to make sure everything is working well, and fix anything before it becomes an issue.

But I'm confident everything is safe and working well.