This was my experience. I bought 5th gen calipers at NAPA & turned in my 4th gen calipers & got the core charge refunded.
5th Gen 4Runner Brakes Upgrade (for 4th Gen 4Runner)
- Thread starter EnduringGuerila
- Start date
This was my experience. I bought 5th gen calipers at NAPA & turned in my 4th gen calipers & got the core charge refunded.
Perhaps a stupid question, but…
What sort of problems will I have if I swap to 5th gen calipers in the rear while keeping my 4th gen calipers on the front for a while?
I’m about to swap out my rear axle for an 8.2 axle from a 5th gen, and it has 5th gen calipers on it. I’d like keep those 5th gen calipers on and wait a bit before changing my fronts to 5th gen. But I remember reading in the past about how messing with the ratio of braking capacity between the front and the rear screws things up. But people change the fronts without changing the rears, and I haven’t read of anyone having problems with that.
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!
What sort of problems will I have if I swap to 5th gen calipers in the rear while keeping my 4th gen calipers on the front for a while?
I’m about to swap out my rear axle for an 8.2 axle from a 5th gen, and it has 5th gen calipers on it. I’d like keep those 5th gen calipers on and wait a bit before changing my fronts to 5th gen. But I remember reading in the past about how messing with the ratio of braking capacity between the front and the rear screws things up. But people change the fronts without changing the rears, and I haven’t read of anyone having problems with that.
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!
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Since no one advised not to do it, and I don’t see why it shouldn’t work just fine for a while, I went ahead with the 5th gen setup as I did my axle swap. So I’m now running 5th gen rears and 4th gen fronts. I’ll swap the fronts once I find a good set of OEM 5th gen calipers for the front. That said, it’s been a good improvement. I feel like I can notice a bit more solid stopping power. Not so much given that they’re the rears, but some. Perhaps it’s all in my head but I like it. However, the best improvement has been in the parking brake. I had a virtually useless parking brake, as many others around here have noticed. That’s probably equal parts 4th gen design and imperfections in me getting all the parking brake hardware right—setting up parking brakes is one of my least favorite jobs. But with the 5th gen setup on my 4th gen, it’s excellent. The parking brake actually holds my 4th gen on a hill. It’s great.
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AuSeeker
Elite Member
My understanding is that the 4th gen and 5th gen parking brakes are much the same if not identical, so what made the 5th gen setup better for you??
Well, in that case, maybe it was entirely user error in setting the old ones up, and having everything OEM now is the difference. When I bought it two years ago, NTB had recently put new parking brake hardware on for the PO. They screwed it up, so I redid it. I didn’t touch the 5th gen hardware as I put the new axle on the other day—just hooked up the cables where they attach under the console—which is also why I hadn’t really looked much into the 5th gen setup under the rotor. So, the new axle parking brake is still all setup as it left the factory (minus some material on the pads, of course).
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