changing the front brake pads was the hardest!
 

I changed the rear easily but the fronts man those 2 brake pads facing each other as apposed to the rears where the brake pads face away from each other and you have to just take the pads out and put new hardware but nooo the fronts have to be a little more difficult and the stupid pins I almost felt like smashing it to pieces and I cant let the freaking brake caliper or whatever its call hang on the brake like the rears do so I had to hold it which was a pain.

I did manage to put it together in one piece now I just gotta do the other side tomorrow :( I started at 6 and didn't finish the passenger front side until about 7:30 but of course I am using a bottle jack(bought from advance auto) and the tire lug wrench that came with the car.

Whats weird is the brake pads still had meat left on them and yet they were squeaking when I braked even the rears. I just have to look at the left front and see if the squeaking goes away after that otherwise maybe the rotor needs replacement?

Not sure but the caliper in the front passenger of course since I did the brakes had like some rust pieces coming of so I had used some air in a can to blast them.

I like working on my own car but man, why are rear brake pad smaller then the fronts? Isn't this suv suppose to RWD based which I am guessing means the rears need more braking power.

fronts are easy, if you dont need to change the rotors, all you need to do is use some channel locks and squeeze the pads in slowly. you dont need to remove any caliper for this unless you have seized calipers.
remember to bed in new pads and change the fluid.

I don't think channel locks are that small. I had to remove the brake caliper to get the piston tight again because I used c-clamps. Did a 1 hour video for no reason and as I did mention its not ment to be a tutorial but just done because of boredom. Squeaking is also gone and I noticed that one of the clips was missing when I took of my rim that's why I was trying to search for it.
Changing brake pads on my 2013 4runner - YouTube

you would just squeeze the tip a little, hard to explain. there are a lot of different technique to use. also jack at the lowest point, the crossmember is a good place to jack, use jack stands after. at least put the tire under the frame rail, not worth loosing limbs. you can replace tire and rim, but not your body parts.

Strange... front pads on 4th and 5th gen 4Runners are the easiest I've ever done. It's a 10 min job, even with with rusty pins.

Also, every single car in the world has larger or more powerful front brakes than rear. Simple physics really. When you apply the brakes, the vehicle wants to continue in the direction it was going (usually forward), therefore the center of mass is shifted forward (nose dive) resulting in the front axle(s) bearing more weight. So the front brakes have to do more work. The rear axle sees a reduction in mass and needs less braking force as a result. If the rear brakes were stronger, they would lock up all the time.

Just by the first couple seconds of the video I'm going to go with not having the correct tools made it more difficult.

Tools are expensive but I saw a bottle jack and factory wrench being used.

Also I would suggest something like this.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/SAS-Safety-...Pad/1002439692

I use it all the time at home it saves the knees.

The rears were easy as pie and I used the same tools so I don't know what you're talking bout because the piston was easier to push back in with the C clamps and I could actually rest the caliper on the rotor while I got the rears and in the fronts you can't rest the caliper on anything as the brake line is to short. I guess everyone is different but I tried to rest the caliper on the passenger before I shot this video and for the life of me I couldn't.

For me the rears were easier but I could be doing it wrong and I didn't have any channel locks and I don't know if it will even fit but using a c clamp is a pain in the butt. I am glad I got the rears and the fronts done. Gonna have to wait until another 50k to replace pads again :(, rotors, and bleed the brake line.

I always change my rotors when doing the pads since its not much more and not worth my time to take it to get resurfaced.

So I pry on the pad with a screw driver to push the piston back before using a clamp.

No issues so far.

And get something like this

Amazon.com: Mission Automotive Brake Caliper Hooks/Brake Caliper Hangers (Set of 2) - Excellent Hook/Hanger for Automotive Tool Use: Automotive

Works wonders. and you can use it to hang other stuff in between.

You're so Right. I should have done the rotors to. I will get my rotors on the next brake pad change. I forgot bout that item you showed me. I think I might need to replace my brake caliper. There was like debris in the piston like rust debris. :wtf:

If the piston moves fine and even back and forth I wouldn't sweat it too much.