gaslight
New member
Well its not as bad as some others I have done.
The worst part is removing the pin/bolts that go through the calipers and pads. Those pins are a major pain in the butt. I have just over 60k miles on my vehicle and those pins were rusted in place. I sprayed them with PB Blaster (love the smell) and let them sit for a while. The other thing that makes it a pain is they have to be removed from the inboard side out. I used a hammer and punch to beat the crap out of them. Once they moved a little in one direction I would hammer them in the other direction and spray with lube to slowly loosen them. After a while of hammering on the inboard end that end would 'mushroom' a bit. Now you have to get in there and grind away or chisel that end so its small enough to slide through the caliper.
While trying to compress the pistons back into the caliper I discovered what others have found, the lower inboard piston is frozen. As a matter of fact both front calipers had the same problem. Thats why my braking wasn't that great and the pads weren't warn much on the inside pad. Its not just a problem with the 4Runner but some Tundra owners are experiencing the same thing.
So now I start calling around looking for new calipers. The local dealer told me they could get some in a couple of days for a price of $364 each new. I called NAPA and it would take them a couple of days to also get some but they kept digging. The guy at NAPA said he had another supplier to call and he wound up getting me some in just a couple of hours. That only cost me about $140 each including new pins, clips for the pins, anti vibration spring. I'm pretty sure they were rebuilt but the casting numbers were a match so I was in luck. One more reason to hate the dealers.
I also got some new slotted rotors earlier in the week with pads. Those I got online and took about 2 weeks to get here. The new rotors were supposed to have a black zinc coating on them. When I srayed them with brake cleaner the black crap started coming off so I kept spraying and wiping with a rag to get the loose stuff off.
Bled the brakes yesterday after putting everything back together and so far the brakes are working great. I'm taking it easy on the brakes for the first 100 miles to slowly bed them in. But I can say that even with light braking pressure the brakes are working great and back to where they should be.
I did notice a few weeks ago that one of the wheels had lots of brake dust on it and then I notice tons of scratches on the rotor surface. That one pad was getting stuck in the caliper. The piston would push it forward into the rotor surface and when the piston released the pad would not release its pressure on the rotor. So that cause premature wear to the pad and then to the rotor when the pad was gone, yeah metal on metal. That is why I ordered new rotors. The pad was getting stuck because of the corrosion that built up on the caliper surface that the pad should slide along. I had to hammer that pad out while the others came out easily. With the new calipers I put a little caliper grease in that spot to help the new pads slide back and forth plus I hope it cuts back on the corrosion in that area.
You should most definitely put a tiny dab of caliper grease on the pins in the spots where they make contact with the pads and where they go through the caliper. I'm sure they get a lot of corrosion just from the brake dust so clean and grease them whenever you rotate your tire. I plan or replacing those pins when they start to get a little crusty, say in about 20 to 30k miles. You can get a set of 4 for just under $10. It will save a lot of grief and aggravation down the road.
I definitely think this is a job a lot of people can do with some basic tools and lots of patience. Plus it will save you tons of money that you won't be paying the dealer.
The worst part is removing the pin/bolts that go through the calipers and pads. Those pins are a major pain in the butt. I have just over 60k miles on my vehicle and those pins were rusted in place. I sprayed them with PB Blaster (love the smell) and let them sit for a while. The other thing that makes it a pain is they have to be removed from the inboard side out. I used a hammer and punch to beat the crap out of them. Once they moved a little in one direction I would hammer them in the other direction and spray with lube to slowly loosen them. After a while of hammering on the inboard end that end would 'mushroom' a bit. Now you have to get in there and grind away or chisel that end so its small enough to slide through the caliper.
While trying to compress the pistons back into the caliper I discovered what others have found, the lower inboard piston is frozen. As a matter of fact both front calipers had the same problem. Thats why my braking wasn't that great and the pads weren't warn much on the inside pad. Its not just a problem with the 4Runner but some Tundra owners are experiencing the same thing.
So now I start calling around looking for new calipers. The local dealer told me they could get some in a couple of days for a price of $364 each new. I called NAPA and it would take them a couple of days to also get some but they kept digging. The guy at NAPA said he had another supplier to call and he wound up getting me some in just a couple of hours. That only cost me about $140 each including new pins, clips for the pins, anti vibration spring. I'm pretty sure they were rebuilt but the casting numbers were a match so I was in luck. One more reason to hate the dealers.
I also got some new slotted rotors earlier in the week with pads. Those I got online and took about 2 weeks to get here. The new rotors were supposed to have a black zinc coating on them. When I srayed them with brake cleaner the black crap started coming off so I kept spraying and wiping with a rag to get the loose stuff off.
Bled the brakes yesterday after putting everything back together and so far the brakes are working great. I'm taking it easy on the brakes for the first 100 miles to slowly bed them in. But I can say that even with light braking pressure the brakes are working great and back to where they should be.
I did notice a few weeks ago that one of the wheels had lots of brake dust on it and then I notice tons of scratches on the rotor surface. That one pad was getting stuck in the caliper. The piston would push it forward into the rotor surface and when the piston released the pad would not release its pressure on the rotor. So that cause premature wear to the pad and then to the rotor when the pad was gone, yeah metal on metal. That is why I ordered new rotors. The pad was getting stuck because of the corrosion that built up on the caliper surface that the pad should slide along. I had to hammer that pad out while the others came out easily. With the new calipers I put a little caliper grease in that spot to help the new pads slide back and forth plus I hope it cuts back on the corrosion in that area.
You should most definitely put a tiny dab of caliper grease on the pins in the spots where they make contact with the pads and where they go through the caliper. I'm sure they get a lot of corrosion just from the brake dust so clean and grease them whenever you rotate your tire. I plan or replacing those pins when they start to get a little crusty, say in about 20 to 30k miles. You can get a set of 4 for just under $10. It will save a lot of grief and aggravation down the road.
I definitely think this is a job a lot of people can do with some basic tools and lots of patience. Plus it will save you tons of money that you won't be paying the dealer.
