Front brake caliper & pad replacement

[Kmvreter]

I was under the impression that Toyota has a fix for this now? Kmreveter, are you getting new calipers?

I'm out of warranty, even if it potentially applied, so I'm not using brand new parts that are overpriced big $$$.

I installed remanufactured replacements. Maybe there are some internal piston or seal changes I can't see. The only difference I noticed compared to stock was the driver's side caliper that I did last year had an extra retainer spring-ring around the base of each piston dust cover boot. I plan to source these and install them on the passenger side caliper I just did.

 

[Kmvreter]

Bump for trishalk.

 

[gaslight]

Those pins are a real pain to get out once they are rusted in place. I mentioned it in a post a while back and also suggest greasing them every time you rotate your tires(twice a year).
I went with the reman calipers because they were a hell of a lot cheaper and in stock. Yes the lower pistons on the inside were frozen on both calipers.

 

[ozzy4355]

Those pins are a real pain to get out once they are rusted in place. I mentioned it in a post a while back and also suggest greasing them every time you rotate your tires(twice a year).
I went with the reman calipers because they were a hell of a lot cheaper and in stock. Yes the lower pistons on the inside were frozen on both calipers.

where do you guys recommend getting the remand calipers, or is there a good set of aftermarket ones you could recommend

 

[Kmvreter]

where do you guys recommend getting the remand calipers...

Try an auto parts trade counter. Got mine at NAPA and CarQuest. Someone mentioned Rockauto.

 

[Kmvreter]

Did the spring ritual driveline service and summer tire change. Followed my lessons learned below.

Maintenance lessons I've learned about the brakes.

I'll take a few extra minutes to do the following twice a year when I do the summer/winter tire change.

- Monitor brake pads for even wear between pads (inboard vs. outboard) as well as within the pad (upper vs. lower piston.)
- Keep the pad pins free moving by removing and greasing them.
- Check the piston free play by depressing each end of the pad. Use a channel lock plier at the outer corner of the pad at the pin hole while the pin is removed. This will also move the brake fluid around inside the piston to help avoid internal corrosion.
- Pull the pads with shims to check for shim damage that is an indicator of piston problems.

I'll also bleed the brakes every 2 years (as others have suggested) to minimize the risk of boiling moisture in the inner piston position causing internal corrosion.

Last lesson.
I saved a bundle over the stealership or shop doing the work.
Getting my hands on the wrenches on the truck, priceless!

So guess what? Déjà Vu. :flamethrwoer2:

I have a frozen inner lower piston on the driver's side caliper. That's what started this thread almost 2 years ago. There was no indication of a stuck or even slightly tight piston when I did the last tire rotation. I got almost 64,000 Km (39,500 miles) and almost 1320 hours on this reman NAPA unit.

It's definitely not caused by sitting (it's my DD) or bad fluid (I bled the entire brake fluid last spring.) The 4 piston caliper is good for braking power but the pistons must be a poor design or material.

I caught it early enough that there isn't any uneven pad wear or shim damage. I'm not sure whether I'll go with another reman, Toyota OEM or get a rebuild kit to do a teardown and look at the piston design/material. I have some access to a machine shop and am thinking of custom pistons.

I'm not looking forward to doing alternating calipers every spring. :dammit:

 

[Ducman]

Wow

That is unreal. I'd be hugely disappointed if it was me.

Wonder what the heck can be causing it.

What kind of condition are the slide pins in? I only ask because I replaced mine last fall and lubed them good but this spring when I removed them, they were totally corroded and crusty again. (Calipers were fine though.)

 

[Kmvreter]

That is unreal. I'd be hugely disappointed if it was me.

Wonder what the heck can be causing it.

What kind of condition are the slide pins in? I only ask because I replaced mine last fall and lubed them good but this spring when I removed them, they were totally corroded and crusty again. (Calipers were fine though.)

Yeah, it bl@w$.
Slide pins are fine. Mine also always rust but I wire brush them off and grease the holes to keep them loose.

 

[Kmvreter]

... I have a frozen inner lower piston on the driver's side caliper. That's what started this thread almost 2 years ago. There was no indication of a stuck or even slightly tight piston when I did the last tire rotation. I got almost 64,000 Km (39,500 miles) and almost 1320 hours on this reman NAPA unit.
... The 4 piston caliper is good for braking power but the pistons must be a poor design or material.
... I'm not looking forward to doing alternating calipers every spring. :dammit:

Got the chance to replace the caliper with another reman unit. NAPA was out of stock (probably because they have the best price.) The Carquest 13WL reman lists at C$211 but I got it for C$194 + tax (13WL casting.) I passed on the 13WH from APC which is a gold coloured Cardone reman that lists for C$263 but costs C$214 + tax.

Followed Ducman's hint about greasing the face or leading edge area of the pistons. Also regreased the shims because they were "dry".

I also saw a reference in another thread about the design allowing the fluid to "pool" in the lower half. This makes sense because the brake line and bleeder are in the top half. I'm going to increase my brake bleeding to include actually removing the calipers and draining the old fluid once a year. I'm going to do this to the passenger side now since I have to bleed the system anyway. It's a pain but it will only cost my time instead of a whole caliper. I'll see how it works. Ideally, there should be a "drain" in the closed bottom bleeder location. I may drill and tap a hole.

A note about casting numbers. As far as I can tell all the remans use OEM castings. Three options show up in every supply shop listing. I didn't see the 13WG but I'm guessing it's for the larger Sport brakes (actually 13WH; see Edit below.) The only difference between the other 2 is the shape or angle of the threaded brake line fitting hole. The 13WH (actually 13WG; see Edit below) is the original casting with the horizontal angle. The 13WL has the vertical angle. That's what I've been using because it's 20 bucks cheaper and Carquest includes new pins and spring. All you have to do is put a slightly different bend in the brake line.

Edit: I may have the 13WG and 13WH mixed up. Clarification: the 13WH is definitely for the larger Sport brakes; 13WG is OEM for non-Sport & 16" wheels; 13WL is an alternative for non-Sport & 16" wheels.

 

[Casper01]

Did the light greasing on the caliper face help mitigate corrosion? I just put on a reman'd caliper 2 weeks ago and it's already corroding quite noticably (the other 3 pre-existing ones are fine, though).

This caliper situation that Toyota has created is quite vexing. I started a thread about my attempt to think outside the box on it and may eventually have to do something like this. In the end I can't imagine the price difference being that substantial - $150 every two years for a new caliper or twice that for a single purchase and never worry about it again? Before I do that I'm going to just try something simple and try spraying Rustoleum on the surface, the kind that converts the rust to a paintable surface and see if that helps.

 

[zerowkul98]

I just went through this and i STILL am going thru it!!

I had a lower caliper frozen bullcrap, has the front ones replaced with Capone A1 calipers. However the rotors werent machined so im still getting that "hesitation" when i brake and the steering wheel pulls to the left when i brakw as well.

Anyone wanna take a stab at it?

 

[CJ3Flyr]

Anyone wanna take a stab at it?

Have it bled again, sounds like you may have some air in it.

I did read the post correctly, you replaced BOTH calipers, correct? If so it almost has to be air...

 

[zerowkul98]

Yeah, both front calipers have been replaced, as well as all pads all around the vehicle.

Im going to schedule the 75k maint. visit, so i'll have the tech's check it out.

 

[sprale]

I've been fortunate only to have to replace pads and turn rotors so far. Just under 80k miles on the original calipers, I believe. I'll be hitting this thread again if they ever go south. :thanks: for the wonderful writeup!

Anyone know of any speed bleeders or similar for this caliper? Maybe just need the bleeder valve size...

Nevermind, I found it: http://www.speedbleeder.com/automobile_applications.htm#Toyota
Front Disc: SB7100
Rear Disc: SB1010

 

[zerowkul98]

Well, ive been told by a mechanic that the lines are self-bleeding (wha? huh?) but i had soft brakes and just had the calipers in the front replaced and new
pads all around. I took it to a buddies garage and he turned the front rotors. He said there was not much of a warp on the fronts....BUT it rides nice now. Still a lil hesitation but he said it could be the pads with a lil material due to
warped rotors and should wear evenly soon.

The dude that turned my rotors was older than dirt, but none the less has a wealth of knowledge...he said A1 Capones arent great (in choice words) and next year when they crap the bed to go with King brand calipers.

 

[Kmvreter]

So guess what? Déjà Vu. :flamethrwoer2:

...I'm not looking forward to doing alternating calipers every spring. :dammit:

It's almost spring and guess what? Right on schedule.
Another frozen front caliper on the passenger side (second time.) I haven't taken the wheel off to look but this time the symptoms are also different. The front end recently started to shudder after a few minutes of driving. Turns out the brakes are heating up because they are dragging so I can only do short trips. Need to tear into this real soon.
The only thing I can think that is contributing to this is the quality of the reman units. All of them have been from CarQuest so this time I'll go with NAPA or try to get a deal on an OEM reman.

 

[Kmvreter]

Made the time to pull the wheel and inspect the brakes.
I initially found all 4 pistons seized which explains the grabbing and heating. I thought "Oh S^!t, here we go."
But I was able to free up 3 of them using a C-clamp. The inner top (NOT the usual lower) piston remains frozen. Also, there isn't any uneven pad wear yet. At least I've bought myself some time in order to get the part and plan a time for the job instead of an emergency repair.
ps. There was no indication of stuck or tight pistons last fall when I did the winter tire rotation.

 

[Kmvreter]

Called around for reman caliper prices. Looking at 2 different castings, the original 13WG or the slightly different 13WL.

The CarQuest WL I've been using is C$176. Their WG is C$263 (the reason I didn't go this route in the past.) Want to try something different.

The NAPA WL is C$113 (always out of stock) and WG is C$164 (good price).
The stealership Toy OEM (reman) WG is ~C$257. New is out of the question. They won't quote the WL based on my VIN calling for the WG.

So help me think through my dilemma. I've paid 175-200 in the past. Do I go even cheaper and give the NAPA WL a try (since I'm used to changing them frequently, every 2 years) or the NAPA WG (same range as the CarQuest WL) or the OEM WG (which should give me a "normal life" replacement, 4 or 5 years)? Anyone have experience with the quality of NAPA reman parts? Why are they substantially cheaper for the same casting?

Can any Toyota techs on here give any insight if there is more to the difference between the WL and WG than the angle of the inlet threads to justify the price difference? Which other vehicles use the WL?

 

[Kmvreter]

... So help me think through my dilemma...

Can any Toyota techs on here give any insight if there is more to the difference between the WL and WG than the angle of the inlet threads to justify the price difference? Which other vehicles use the WL?

Bump for some insight or advice on the best route to go. Found that the WL is used on the Sequoia.

I'm leaning toward the NAPA WG if they are a good quality rebuild.

 

[Kmvreter]

Did this passenger side caliper this weekend.

I got a break because it turns out the quoted NAPA reman 13WG price was wrong. Full retail is C$291 but the going counter price is C$226. They honoured the quoted trade price (what the independent shops get) of C$164 + tax.