How are you 5th Gen brake calipers doing?

S

skott

New member
How are your 5th Gen brake calipers doing?

Hey everyone, I'm a 4th Gen guy looking for some info from you 5th Gen guys. There's a writeup in the 4th Gen section where someone took 5th Gen brake calipers and installed them on their 4th Gen in hopes to alleviate the horrible seized brake caliper problem we have. I searched to try and find if you guys have the same problem, but my searches didn't turn up much (which is a good thing I guess). Anyway, have any of you had problems with frozen/seized calipers?

The calipers between the two look almost identical (the pistons on the 5th Gen are sliiiightly larger), so it makes it hard to believe there was a major design update to help prevent the problem, but hey, if they work they work.

I appreciate any feedback. I have a seized caliper (my fifth one) and I'm thinking of doing the swap if it may prevent it from happening again.
 
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I had to replace my front drivers side caliper because it was seized up. I bought a new OEM Toyota caliper, 4 OEM rotors and 4 sets of OEM pads. All replaced @ 74000 miles. My original rotors were cut once prior to these new OEM parts installation. This was on a 2010 4R SR5 4x4 which I bought new.
 
My 5th gens calipers are fine after 7300 miles on my 2014. Just being a wise guy. :rockon: My old 4th gen never had any caliper problems during the 11 years I owned it. I live in a dry climate with no snow and little rain so that probably helped.
 
If one of our elder statesmen on the 5th gen subforum, [MENTION=66316]1engineer[/MENTION] , says he's heard of nothing, I'd take that as gospel.

FWIW, I don't remember hearing about anything either. If it is an issue, it doesn't appear anyone is reporting it.

Toyota probably just made a small design change from the 4th gens that our poor little brains can't even see.
 
Gstick said:
I had to replace my front drivers side caliper because it was seized up. I bought a new OEM Toyota caliper, 4 OEM rotors and 4 sets of OEM pads. All replaced @ 74000 miles. My original rotors were cut once prior to these new OEM parts installation. This was on a 2010 4R SR5 4x4 which I bought new.
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Is this about where one should expect a need to replace original breaks in 5th get 4R?
Asking as I am considering used vs new (6th gen around the corner) for next 5 years and trying to calculate total ownership cost.
 
I am at 74,000 on 2012 4runner Limited. Still with original pads/calipers. Everything is working and the truck still stops just fine. Had oil change at the dealer 1000 miles ago and checkup came back with all green.

But probably going to replace the pads with next oil change just to be on the safe side.
 
97K miles and no issues...replaced rotors and brake pads (almost on second set) and they are great with zero noise too! (unlike the squeaky OEM pads/rotors)
 
Winter roads have a lot of calcium up here and those calipers take a beating. I just traded an '06 that was gonna need brakes/calipers after 120,000. I'm bringing in the '10 TE tomorrow for service and I'll ask them to check the brakes. It has 100,000.
 
No issues at 36K.

My son has a 4th Gen with about 85K and he hasn't had any caliper issues, but he has replaced rotors. He's mentioned the 4th Gen caliper issues and seems a little paranoid about anything that possibly could be a stuck caliper symptom.
 
skott said:
Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm going to give the 5th Gen calipers a try and see how they do.
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skott, thanks for posting this. Also, thanks to all the 5th gen owners here for your feedback.

I'm going to give this a try as well. I just discovered the thread you mentioned regarding the 5th gen brake swap, and my '03 is in need of two new front calipers anyway. The responses here confirmed it is certainly worth a shot. In my case, I already bought new 4th gen rotors, so I'll have to sell those or pay shipping to return them. I will gladly eat the cost if it means I won't have to mess with seized calipers every other year.

Now, if I could just get my hands on a set of NAPA 5th gen calipers, I could get this done today...
 
If you live in the salt belt one of the dealer pushes for maintenance is caliper cleanup/lube. It's not stated in any maintenance schedule by most car manufacturers. But it is well worth it. Even though they usually charge you 1 hour of labor per axle, at least you have brakes that are not seized and/or dragging.

Winter is even worse for pin/slider single piston calipers. Atleast we have fancier calipers for the fronts.
 
2010 here, 65000 miles. I have already had a seized driver side caliper. When I was at the dealer, the service manager told me a 4Runner was in earlier with both seized. Calipers are $450 each, and I got toyotacare to cover it.

I Am in upstate ny, so it may just be the weather and salt.

Jim
 
03_4x4Runner said:
My 5th gens calipers are fine after 7300 miles on my 2014. Just being a wise guy. :rockon: My old 4th gen never had any caliper problems during the 11 years I owned it. I live in a dry climate with no snow and little rain so that probably helped.
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I think it is a function of climate. I live in the snow belt here in Boston, with lots of salt on the roads. Salt plus aluminum brake caliper housing plus steel piston = battery (dissimilar metals corrosion).

I've gone through so many calipers on my 4th gen that I've lost count.
 
Could this be the first documented thread where the 4th and 5th gen guys are getting along?:hiding::drum::clap2:

PS- Almost 70K here, original everything on the brakes, and no issues. I tow every week and they salt the crap out of the roads here too so looks good so far.
 
Antman said:
Could this be the first documented thread where the 4th and 5th gen guys are getting along?:hiding::drum::clap2:

PS- Almost 70K here, original everything on the brakes, and no issues. I tow every week and they salt the crap out of the roads here too so looks good so far.
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I'm getting the feeling that even if they aren't perfect, they certainly seem to be a huge improvement over the 4th gen. Slightly better stopping power is a nice bonus, too!

And I split my automotive forum time between here and VWvortex, so it's VERY nice to see us all getting along!

[emoji3]
 
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