How to Replace Front Brake Pads on TBU

[LittleCaesar]

That is pretty good. Wagner TQ, as long as they don't squeal, are a good bang for the buck. In fact I used them on my mom's 2008 Camry since after 20k her stock OEM fronts were almost gone.

I always seem to have to remove some fluid when pushing in pistons. Don't know why. Bad luck maybe. That fluid though looks old in that reservoir.

You average 22k a year? Crap, that is a lot of miles. The employees at the local gas stations must know you on a first name basis.

 

[Rock_Rat]

That is pretty good. Wagner TQ, as long as they don't squeal, are a good bang for the buck. In fact I used them on my mom's 2008 Camry since after 20k her stock OEM fronts were almost gone.

I always seem to have to remove some fluid when pushing in pistons. Don't know why. Bad luck maybe. That fluid though looks old in that reservoir.

You average 22k a year? Crap, that is a lot of miles. The employees at the local gas stations must know you on a first name basis.

I also put the TQ's on my wife's 2010 Camry last month. Had her tires replaced two days ago at Discount Tire. They're running their $100 rebate deal plus I got a $60 credit for each of my old Michelin tires. Mileage on the Premier A/S was awful.

The problem with the mileage on my rig is, it's my weekend mountain rig. I go hiking/skiing/fishing/clamming a lot almost every weekend with my wife if I'm not playing around in our OHV parks. Most places are always about two to three hours away. It's going to sit for a while right now though. I'm starting to "tidy" a few things up inside, such as re-finishing seats, running additional wiring for lights, etc...plus my lower back hasn't been doing real well the past couple of months.

Yes, it's time to flush ALL the fluids. Perhaps in a couple of weeks.

 

[Ghostrider]

Just a quick fyi on other vehicles. Not all vehicles have calipers that you can use the C clamp on. Some Mazda's from the 90's and a Saab are what I know need different methods to compress the piston. It's always a good idea to find a forum and a how to before jumping in.

 

[Unner]

That's great mileage. I know you've put on some serious mileage at altitude as well. Any left foot braking?


No, I didn't have to. Checked the level before starting and watched it carefully. Picture attached upon completion. It was exactly where I started.

A little bit of left foot braking off road when I start spinning tires, but not often enough I think it contributes any sort of significantly to brake pad wear. I just looked and I've got about a quarter inch of pad left, so I should be able to get 100k out of these easily.

 

[nchacon1984]

Im considering purchasing a kit from amazon. what brake lines do you guys upgrade to or just run with the oem ones...astly, is it necessary to upgrade or replace the master cylinder when doing this upgrade.

 

[Rock_Rat]

Im considering purchasing a kit from amazon. what brake lines do you guys upgrade to or just run with the oem ones...astly, is it necessary to upgrade or replace the master cylinder when doing this upgrade.

Most on here with the TBU and a suspension/body lift are running longer stainless steel brake lines. Mine are from Wheelers Offroad, but there are other vendors as well. (BTW - I have a new single rear brake line from wheelers for a non-VSC vehicle available.)

The best information for doing the upgrade can be found here:

Hard to Find Specs and Info on the 231 TBU

You will find a lot of fantastic information on the 231 and links to various threads on the 199. There's no need to change out your master cylinder. The only real mod you'll have to do is trim the dust shield so the caliper will fit.

Speaking for myself, this was the best upgrade I did on my rig after I installed the 33" tires, bumper, skids, sliders etc. You really need the larger brakes to compensate for the additional weight.

EDIT: Even if you don't do the upgrade, stainless steel brake lines are the way to go. They don't flex under pressure the way a flexible line does. Your braking is much more direct.

 

[SodiumFlouride]

I have used silicone paste in the past to help lube the boots. Seems to work well.

Thanks for that idea of lubricating the boots, which I will do when I replace them soon as they're now torn.

The dealer does sell a kit to rebuild calipers.

Thanks for confirming a rebuild kit exists.

I had looked on Camelback under BRAKES - BRAKE COMPONENTS - FRONT but then I looked again and found it under BRAKES - HYDRAULIC SYSTEM - FRONT BRAKES - OVERHAUL KIT.

This piston spreader works well:
https://www.cpooutlets.com/lang-279-brake-caliper-press/lngn279,default,pd.html?

Thanks for that suggestion as I looked at that spreader which O'Reillys sells, where the package mentions that it is supposed to be used with the calipers off the vehicle.

When I was at O'Reillys, I noticed that they rent for free the kit shown below which I ask others if it works well for spreading the pistons evenly without removing the calipers from the vehicle?

 

[SodiumFlouride]

The link that [MENTION=69868]LittleCaesar[/MENTION] posted is a great tool for doing exactly what you're looking for.

That tool may be the cats meow, but I'm not sure yet, because the package of that tool, at least the one I looked at on the shelf at O'Reilly's, says it's for use only when the calipers are off the vehicle.

The problem with my piston spreader tool was that the pushplate still needs to be larger (deeper, wider) to push the entire piston in perfectly evenly. You can see in the photo below that the threaded rod hits the caliper too soon, which limits how deeply the spreader plate can go inside the caliper.

If you work the pistons a little at a time you shouldn't have any problem with torn boots.

Since I like to learn more about everything I do, I was experimenting with all sorts of brake spreader tools, because it was a learning process, but in that process I learned it might have been better not to experiment, as I tore the boots.

Original pads with 133,000 miles on them is pretty damn impressive.

I agree that's impressive. The stock rears generally last forever (180K to 220K miles, and even then, it's only the bottom half of the front shoe), but my fronts are usually shorter lived.

Here's what the rears looked like at about 180K miles, old and new after following the Timmy the Toolman detailed video.

 

[SodiumFlouride]

I guess I could ask also [MENTION=116467]Rock_Rat[/MENTION] if you drained any fluid in the MC before pushing the pistons back in? I always have to.

I had first flushed out the old amber DOT 3 fluid with 20 ounces of new blue ATE DOT 4 SuperBlue hydraulic fluid.

So to be on the safe side, I used a syringe to lower the level from Max down to Min, which was probably more than I had needed to do.

 

[SodiumFlouride]

I take a look at them when I'm down there and it crosses my mind.

Since mine had three separate wear sensors on each set of pads, I just waited for the scraping noise to start, and then waited a few thousand miles to get some additional wear out of them!

I'm running Akebono pads.

Without going into too much confusing detail, from my conversations with Toyota customer support, the OE fronts are Akebono EE (e.g., "AK PA533 EE A17"), while the OE rear shoes are Nisshinbo FF (e.g., "NBK LN508 FF").

I replaced mine with Centric FE and FF pads and shoes cold and hot friction coefficients respectively.