Big Tundra upgrade issues.

[wake_rider]

Gents, I did big Tundra upgrade with the Power Stop full kit, and I'm having some problems. The right caliper seems to be dragging a bit, and what's happening is that when the brakes are cold, I'm getting straight braking. However, when they get up to operating temp, the truck pulls pretty hard to the left (the side not dragging). I'm assuming that the heating up of the right roter (side dragging) is keeping it from being able to grab as effeciently as the left after warming up (right side getting too hot, then fading).

Could I have done something wrong with the install? Maybe the wrong pad order (does the pad with the indicator go on the inside of caliper or outside)? Could there be a problem with my bleeding, maybe with air in the right line keeping it from functioning correctly? Can the retaining springs/clips be in the wrong position or installed incorrectly? I don't really know where to start troubleshooting, so I'm blindly throwing darts.

I'll pull the tires this evening and take another gander at it. As of now, I'm annoyed.

 

[viceversa]

without some pics we wont know if you installed the the clips wrong or not. did you bleed them properly? I recently did mine and even though probably not necessary I did a full brake bleed starting from passenger rear to driver rear to passenger front to driver front to be sure no bubbles were in the system.

How do you know they are dragging? sound? and this might be a dumb question but are you sure you put the pads in the right way? I've seen people mess this up before and it was simply an overlooked mistake.

Take the wheel off, inspect the rotors on both sides make sure both pads are actually making contact. take pics

 

[wake_rider]

without some pics we wont know if you installed the the clips wrong or not. did you bleed them properly? I recently did mine and even though probably not necessary I did a full brake bleed starting from passenger rear to driver rear to passenger front to driver front to be sure no bubbles were in the system.

How do you know they are dragging? sound? and this might be a dumb question but are you sure you put the pads in the right way? I've seen people mess this up before and it was simply an overlooked mistake.

Take the wheel off, inspect the rotors on both sides make sure both pads are actually making contact. take pics

The thing about the pads is that I don't know if it matters which pad goes on the inside vs the outside of the rotor, and I might have to again look at the clips to make sure I did those right. I know they're dragging on the right side because I jacked up the front end after getting tye brakes warm and spun both tires. The driver's side (side it's pulling to when warm) spun freely, but the passengers side only gets about 1.5 rotations prior to stalling out.

The set came without any identifying marks to let you know which pads were for what side, nor did it show how to install the clips, so I just went with what seemed correct to me. I'm at work for another 4 hours, but I'm going to look into it after that.

 

[thor999]

Will this help? Tundra Brake Upgrade on 3rd Gen 4Runner - YouTube
I haven't done it yet so I can't say for sure

 

[viceversa]

I am still working on all my replacements but finished the brakes recently but have not tested them yet. I put the pad with the low pad warning tab on the inside of rotor and my clip looks like this:

 

[wake_rider]

I am still working on all my replacements but finished the brakes recently but have not tested them yet. I put the pad with the low pad warning tab on the inside of rotor and my clip looks like this:

This morning I finally had an opportunity to pull the wheels and take a look at everything again. I pulled the pads out, and they were all correctly installed. So I cleaned everything with brake cleaner, lubed the pins and the spring with anti-seize, re-bled both sides (there was not any air that released into the lines whenever I rebled the system, but I went ahead and flushed the lines just to make sure).

After buttoning it all back up, the passenger's side is still lazily dragging, and when I went for a test drive, the same problem is happening. The driver's side is gripping like crazy and has phenomenal stopping power, but the passenger's side (the side that is dragging) is pretty lazy and not getting great stopping power. As such, the truck is pulling pretty hard to the left (drivers side).

Since the master cylinder does not differentiate pressure to either side (equal pressure from side to side, as it is designed to only differentiate between the rear and front), I'm thinking that there is something wrong with the passenger's side caliper from Power Stop. I thought I might have seen brake fluid seeping out through the top of the caliper where it sandwiches the two sides of the mold together, so I'm wonding if there's not some kind of manufacturer issue with the remanufactured caliper. Idk. I'll call them in the morning and see what they can do for me.

So far, I have not been a big fan of this Power Stop kit. It just has not seemed to be very quality.

 

[wake_rider]

Here's the spot it seems to be seeping out.

 

[LittleCaesar]

My guess would be a sticking passenger side caliper. Clean the pins and lube them with Sil Glyde to start with.

If they are used, you may want to get a rebuild kit and go to town.

 

[viceversa]

hmm seeping out of the caliper itself??!! that's not good at all. May want to contact powerstop about that before you take anything apart.

 

[wake_rider]

My guess would be a sticking passenger side caliper. Clean the pins and lube them with Sil Glyde to start with.

If they are used, you may want to get a rebuild kit and go to town.

Yeah, that picture was taken prior to cleaning them up. I opted to lube the pins and the pad contact points with anti-seize instead. I've always heard that anti-seize is a mechanic's "go-to" for brake jobs. They are brand new calipers from Powerstop, by the way. I think that the caliper must have a piston that is just slow to move or stuck. I'm not going to rebuild a brand new caliper. They can send me a replacement.

 

[wake_rider]

hmm seeping out of the caliper itself??!! that's not good at all. May want to contact powerstop about that before you take anything apart.

It seems this way. There was a lot of puddled up brake-fluid feeling oily substance on that top portion of the caliper. I have no idea what other oily substance could make its way up to the top like that, so I just assume that it's brake fluid making its way out of that seam.

 

[s20004runner]

i am no expert, but I did this mod and I think the piston wasn't rebuilt properly and a possible leak. I would think that's more likely than a leakage from the area that you circled.

 

[wake_rider]

i am no expert, but I did this mod and I think the piston wasn't rebuilt properly and a possible leak. I would think that's more likely than a leakage from the area that you circled.

That's also what I originally thought. However, tonight I had my wife get in and pump the brakes while I watched everything working. That seam I circled is dripping 2 to 3 drops per pump, right onto the outside of the rotor. There were also about 4 other points on the caliper where there was smaller amounts of brake fluid seeping out, so I think this thing was warped up from the start. No amount of rebuilding it could be of any value. It's trashed.

I spoke with the warranty guys at Powerstop, and they asked that I send some pictures of all the hardware and also of my invoice. I did so tonight with a VERY detailed explanation of what the problems have been and my observations. It comes with a 60 day "no hassles" guarantee, so with all of this evidence of failure I should not expect any "hassles" in getting them to replace everything on that side. We shall see.