4th Gen Options To Replace Seized Calipers... Tundra? (Yes, another caliper thread..)

stanleybb50

stanleybb50

New member
Alright gentlemen (and ladies)... I've been lurking these forums and have been quite active in the past year and a half or so, and think I have (hopefully) built up a decent reputation for "searching before asking", and scouring the forums before asking something. However, in my quest to find what I am looking for, I am hit endlessly by the "3rd gen Tundra Upgrade" threads, and am coming up short in my hunt. Which brings me to my real question:

Its seeming more and more like at least a piston or two in my calipers, which I replaced in April, 2011 are now seized again. (Hey, after-all, they were in a Pittsburgh winter with salt, so that should be expected........................................ Right?) Granted I haven't even removed everything to determine this for sure, but the symptoms are there.

If this is the case, I find myself hard-pressed to go through the time and money to get everything back up to par with the stock calipers (castings), only to probably have this happen again next year. This shouldn't be a yearly maintenance item, and I'm too scared to try to rebuild on my own.

So what are the options? I know that all the aftermarket calipers are just Toyota's castings, hence why we return our "cores" for it to be rebuilt and given to someone else to have seize again and repeat the cycle... In my hunt in Toyota120.com and even here, I've found out there really are no other options as far as what "should be" on a T4R without very drastic modification (no Brembo 6 piston options or anything else).

I thought I had read somewhere previously about converting the 4th Gen's over to a Tundra caliper/rotor, but I can't find anything on this anywhere now. Does anyone have a link, or any information on how to go about doing this? I feel like a jacka** right now, being that I'm fairly certain this was discussed before, but I can't find anything. I thought I remembered hearing that this was the best solution, because the Tundra calipers are much less prone to seizing. I also understand the rotor is a little thicker as well, which would be an advantage.

For the record, I do have 17” wheels. (I’m sure they wouldn’t fit in the 16's.)
 
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I hope that you find the answer, we are all needing right now!

If I deide to keep this more then 5 years I may do a brembo swap or the like.
 
If the tundra thing doesnt work out you could always upgrade your sr5 rotors and calipers to sport(slightly bigger option). May still have seized issue down the road but if you want more stopping power its an option. Funny thing is im thinking about putting sr5 calipers and rotors on my sport so that I can fit my 16" snow wheels/tires on it.
 
Good luck Stan if you try the Tundra upgrade.
I had my brake issues and finally changed mine. Fronts- New(rebuilt) Napa Caplipers - another post on here refrd to them as better than stock- almost anything's gotta be better. Also Front EBC drilled and slotted Rotors and Green stuff pads. Rear- EBC premium Rotors and greenstuff pads.
So far the last few days have really only been a break in period but they made a HUGE DIFFERENCE. I wish I had done this last year. Brakes smooth, UBER responsive/faster and shorter braking distance. I was so dunn :boxer: with the old calipers I didn't even check if they were frozen- just don't care.

Since I didn't find info on 4th Gen Tundra swaps, I wasn't gonna be the first.
Did more stuff too but thats for later...............
Good luck!
 
I plan on running the FJ BBK in the near future. Honestly there are no "other" caliper options other than that without going to a bigger rim size. The FJ bbk will fit 16in rims but has stoptech st40 calipers.
 
Thanks for the replies so far. I will not give up. I refuse to have to pull everything apart each year to replace and bleed brakes/etc. (Even just having to go in and "check" every 6 months is more than I've ever had to do to a car. In fact, I only had one caliper ever freeze on a car of mine. I believe that was my first car in high school, and it was the rear-right caliper. (And that was an '86 Civic, with 150k miles, with the caliper freezing in 1999...)

I did some additional searching today and realize that I must have just read a thread on the 3rd gen swap and confused it for 4th, or something of this matter. I did find at least a couple other people who seemed to be on the same mission for the 4th gen as myself, only to come up empty handed. There's absolutely got to be a solution here! :redbrick:

"Don't give up... Don't ever give up...."
 
stanleybb50 said:
"Don't give up... Don't ever give up...."
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Jimmy V quote. Nicely done. Every time I watch that speech someone must be chopping onions nearby. If that speech doesn't move you then you're broken as a human being. Sorry to thread jack. Carry on.
 
I've had Brembo brakes on Audi and installed them on a Subaru too. They have there own challenges with seized brake bleeders and hardware (Alum/Steel interaction problems).

You want to solve the brake problems.. Find a caliper that has better piston materials or a more robust coating on the steel piston. OR just take a Toyota piston and have someone make some out of SS or the high tech termoplatic composites that the more highend applications use.
 
Sky's got some good info there. That or be the first to do a Tundra/4thGen swap and get the FAME, the GLORY!! The BABES!!! :cheers:
 
SkylineGTRracer said:
I plan on running the FJ BBK in the near future. Honestly there are no "other" caliper options other than that without going to a bigger rim size. The FJ bbk will fit 16in rims but has stoptech st40 calipers.
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I had absolutely no idea what the BBK was for the FJ... Did some googling, and even found the original thread where you discussing the idea of doing this, and found out the FJ/4Runner components are the same.

So this told me two things:

1.) The BBK Kit is way too expensive for what I'm looking for
2.) The FJ's must be suffering from the same frozen caliper symptoms that many of us deal with, since the OEM (non-TRD) calipers are likely the same as ours. I'll try to look into this to confirm however.

I'll also try to do some research and see if the Taco brakes are the same as ours and/or if they are having any similar issues with the seizing. (Worth considering).


Aquabear said:
Sky's got some good info there. That or be the first to do a Tundra/4thGen swap and get the FAME, the GLORY!! The BABES!!! :cheers:
Click to expand...

I am seriously temped to just go buy a left or right Tundra caliper and just see how it fits. Has anyone really tried this? i'm assuming the two caliper bolts will likely be in the same location... I guess it all depends on the hub and all the other components. I could deal with cutting the sheild like the 3rd gen'ers do.. That would be cake. But if its serious modification... I'm out on that!

I'll try to research this over the coming weeks and report back if I find anything. If any Toyota techs that frequent this site want to just try slapping in a Tundra caliper & rotor during a routine swap on a customer's car as a temporary mock-up, I wouldn't complain! Assuming you'd have a Tundra caliper/rotor around the shop at the time of replacement.
 
I have not seen or heard of the pistons seizing up on a fj/taco like on the 4runner at least as common as it is on this forum. BBK is expensive but what I do with my truck its becoming a necessity.
 
450exc115 said:
I'm trying to find what is on the 2011 and 2012 4runners.
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Great idea. Thanks.

SkylineGTRracer said:
I have not seen or heard of the pistons seizing up on a fj/taco like on the 4runner at least as common as it is on this forum. BBK is expensive but what I do with my truck its becoming a necessity.
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Good points on the FJ/Taco not seizing like ours. And I 100% hear you on the necessity for what you got going on!

I just want something that will work as good as stock that won't seize. Of course better than stock would be great, but I really want to stop the seizing! (Sounds like a medical problem...lol)
 
Looking at the tundra brakes they look like our brakes. Would surprise me if the calipers are the same because Toyota does a lot recycling with new vehicles where the vehicle is only 60% new and the rest carry over from there other platforms.
 
If cost is a factor, at a minimum try a NAPA or other brand(that has some reviews), don't get the caliper from Toy.
 
Aquabear said:
If cost is a factor, at a minimum try a NAPA or other brand(that has some reviews), don't get the caliper from Toy.
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But they're all the same castings and designs (Toyota's) anyway.

Cost is somewhat a factor, but I was really talking about the ''BBK'' kit costing like $1500 or more, just for parts.

Thx though.
 
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