I've got a 99 4Runner SR5 4x4 I purchased a couple years back.
Since I purchased the vehicle, the brakes have shuddered whenever braking on a downhill slope. It got the point where the shudder became intolerable. I occasionally wheel and occasionally tow with this truck, so I decided to buckle down and get the job done. Below are my parts costs, my 'gotchas' in doing the swap, and how the car is doing now that the job is done.
Parts cost:
$80 - zinc-plated eBay Tundra rotors. This is a truck with 220,000 miles, not a Baja contestant, so I'm comfortable with this. ABT was the name of the company.
$40 - Left 2001 Tundra junkyard caliper w/no spring hardware
$8 - Retaining hardware (including rods, cotter pints for the rods, and retaining clips) from eBay
$72 - Semi-loaded Raybestos FRC11040 Right-hand caliper. Came with retaining hardware
$20 - Hardex full ceramic brake pads (Canadian company).
$3 - Small bottle of Prestone DOT3 brake fluid.
Tools I needed:
17mm 6-point socket
1/2 inch breaker bar
10mm box wrench
3/4 inch pipe (to fit over the box wrench)
15-pound sledge
10-pound sledge
Break-free CLP
Jetlube AP5
The above parts are 199mm parts as far as the pads and calipers are concerned.
Were I to do it again, I'd just buy another semi-loaded caliper for the left from Raybestos. The eBay hardware kit had the wrong length of rods in it.
Two other things to note.
One, some kits will use cotter pins to retain the rods, others will use a single spring clip. Both methods work, though the spring clip is probably slightly better, as the use of cotter pins will allow the rod to wallow to some extent in the hole it sits in.
Second, various tutorials indicate using only one or two pad retaining springs for each caliper. I had enough to go around, so I used two per caliper. However, this causes the pads to angle slightly inward toward the rotor. Be aware of it. I've done pad and rotor replacements on BMW vehicles -- oddly enough, that ended up being easier than this operation.
Actually performing the swap took about 3 hours. I swap the tires out every year for snows in the winter, so this is a process the wife and I have down pat. Putting the car up on jackstands and getting the two front tires off took about 15 minutes.
Then, the fun. The calipers were factory originals, now with 14 years and 220k on them. The 17mm bolts holding the calipers on the brackets were rusted tight. I have a torque wrench that reads force required to loosen as well as tighten -- they were on there with over 150 foot-pounds on the left-hand side. I ended up dousing them with Break-free CLP (have tons of the stuff, probably about equivalent to liquid wrench), and using a breaker bar and sledgehammer to get these bolts off.
The 10mm brake line bolt was also rusted on there. Find a breaker bar that'll fit over your 10mm box wrench and you should be okay.
So, got the old calipers off, and began prepping the new calipers. As mentioned previously, the pad retaining springs seem to be a fit finicky, but this wasn't a big deal. I greased the rods with some Jet-lube AP5 (used for another application primarily, but also works well as a high moly-content high-temp grease), though any high-temp grease should work. I bolted up the driver's side caliper (junkyard surplus), which went on smooth. I checked for interference either on the pads or with the dust shield, and the rotor rotated freely.
The passenger side was another story, though. I'm guessing the car took an impact on the dust shield at some point, as the rotor was completely stuck in places during its rotation. I had the sledge and a Dremel handy, but wasn't feeling interested in precision. Had to take the caliper and rotor off once more to hammer out the spot on the dust shield that was grinding on the rotor. I imagine this was probably happening with the old rotor as well, I just hadn't noticed it.
Then, brake-bleeding time. I'd forgotten that the calipers I was getting would be completely bone-dry. Bleeding the brakes is pretty standard, though it did take a substantial amount of fluid to fill the new calipers. You'll get just air the first few times brakes are bled, so don't be surprised.
Put the tires back on, and headed very carefully out of my driveway. My driveway is about a 20-30 degree down incline, and I was able to come to several full stops on it. I went through a basic bedding process -- up to 40, down to 10, up to 40, down to 10 a few times, and tested normal slowing and stopping situations.
The good: It stops a lot more aggressively (a lot more lurchy than I remember), and has no shudder whatsoever. I haven't tried it with a trailer yet, but it's leaps and bounds over my old brakes.
The bad: Because the calipers are bigger, pedal travel is a little increased. In other words, you have to push farther before the brakes start to bite.
The gotchas:
-- If an older car, have a sledge and a breaker bar handy.
-- If an older car, have some liquid wrench or some Break-free CLP handy
-- Buy the bigger bottle of DOT3 fluid
-- The dust shield will probably take some work. Have a sharpie or layout fluid handy, and correct the dust shield issues before you mount the new calipers.
-- Be kind to the next owner, and indicate somewhere that you're using Tundra hardware somewhere on the calipers (in paint or sharpie).
For $220, this isn't a bad job. The car is different now in a positive way. My old rotors were trashed, as were the old pads, so I was already on the hook for about $100 worth of parts anyway. I'd heartily endorse the refurb Raybestos calipers -- they come with retaining hardware, cost about $70, and can be obtained on Amazon with prime (2-day) shipping. The part # for the passenger side is FRC11040, driver side is probably one up or down from that.
If you're going to need new rotors and pads anyway, i'd recommend this work. If your brakes are currently working adequately -- no shudder and no harsh conditions -- stock is probably fine.
Since I purchased the vehicle, the brakes have shuddered whenever braking on a downhill slope. It got the point where the shudder became intolerable. I occasionally wheel and occasionally tow with this truck, so I decided to buckle down and get the job done. Below are my parts costs, my 'gotchas' in doing the swap, and how the car is doing now that the job is done.
Parts cost:
$80 - zinc-plated eBay Tundra rotors. This is a truck with 220,000 miles, not a Baja contestant, so I'm comfortable with this. ABT was the name of the company.
$40 - Left 2001 Tundra junkyard caliper w/no spring hardware
$8 - Retaining hardware (including rods, cotter pints for the rods, and retaining clips) from eBay
$72 - Semi-loaded Raybestos FRC11040 Right-hand caliper. Came with retaining hardware
$20 - Hardex full ceramic brake pads (Canadian company).
$3 - Small bottle of Prestone DOT3 brake fluid.
Tools I needed:
17mm 6-point socket
1/2 inch breaker bar
10mm box wrench
3/4 inch pipe (to fit over the box wrench)
15-pound sledge
10-pound sledge
Break-free CLP
Jetlube AP5
The above parts are 199mm parts as far as the pads and calipers are concerned.
Were I to do it again, I'd just buy another semi-loaded caliper for the left from Raybestos. The eBay hardware kit had the wrong length of rods in it.
Two other things to note.
One, some kits will use cotter pins to retain the rods, others will use a single spring clip. Both methods work, though the spring clip is probably slightly better, as the use of cotter pins will allow the rod to wallow to some extent in the hole it sits in.
Second, various tutorials indicate using only one or two pad retaining springs for each caliper. I had enough to go around, so I used two per caliper. However, this causes the pads to angle slightly inward toward the rotor. Be aware of it. I've done pad and rotor replacements on BMW vehicles -- oddly enough, that ended up being easier than this operation.
Actually performing the swap took about 3 hours. I swap the tires out every year for snows in the winter, so this is a process the wife and I have down pat. Putting the car up on jackstands and getting the two front tires off took about 15 minutes.
Then, the fun. The calipers were factory originals, now with 14 years and 220k on them. The 17mm bolts holding the calipers on the brackets were rusted tight. I have a torque wrench that reads force required to loosen as well as tighten -- they were on there with over 150 foot-pounds on the left-hand side. I ended up dousing them with Break-free CLP (have tons of the stuff, probably about equivalent to liquid wrench), and using a breaker bar and sledgehammer to get these bolts off.
The 10mm brake line bolt was also rusted on there. Find a breaker bar that'll fit over your 10mm box wrench and you should be okay.
So, got the old calipers off, and began prepping the new calipers. As mentioned previously, the pad retaining springs seem to be a fit finicky, but this wasn't a big deal. I greased the rods with some Jet-lube AP5 (used for another application primarily, but also works well as a high moly-content high-temp grease), though any high-temp grease should work. I bolted up the driver's side caliper (junkyard surplus), which went on smooth. I checked for interference either on the pads or with the dust shield, and the rotor rotated freely.
The passenger side was another story, though. I'm guessing the car took an impact on the dust shield at some point, as the rotor was completely stuck in places during its rotation. I had the sledge and a Dremel handy, but wasn't feeling interested in precision. Had to take the caliper and rotor off once more to hammer out the spot on the dust shield that was grinding on the rotor. I imagine this was probably happening with the old rotor as well, I just hadn't noticed it.
Then, brake-bleeding time. I'd forgotten that the calipers I was getting would be completely bone-dry. Bleeding the brakes is pretty standard, though it did take a substantial amount of fluid to fill the new calipers. You'll get just air the first few times brakes are bled, so don't be surprised.
Put the tires back on, and headed very carefully out of my driveway. My driveway is about a 20-30 degree down incline, and I was able to come to several full stops on it. I went through a basic bedding process -- up to 40, down to 10, up to 40, down to 10 a few times, and tested normal slowing and stopping situations.
The good: It stops a lot more aggressively (a lot more lurchy than I remember), and has no shudder whatsoever. I haven't tried it with a trailer yet, but it's leaps and bounds over my old brakes.
The bad: Because the calipers are bigger, pedal travel is a little increased. In other words, you have to push farther before the brakes start to bite.
The gotchas:
-- If an older car, have a sledge and a breaker bar handy.
-- If an older car, have some liquid wrench or some Break-free CLP handy
-- Buy the bigger bottle of DOT3 fluid
-- The dust shield will probably take some work. Have a sharpie or layout fluid handy, and correct the dust shield issues before you mount the new calipers.
-- Be kind to the next owner, and indicate somewhere that you're using Tundra hardware somewhere on the calipers (in paint or sharpie).
For $220, this isn't a bad job. The car is different now in a positive way. My old rotors were trashed, as were the old pads, so I was already on the hook for about $100 worth of parts anyway. I'd heartily endorse the refurb Raybestos calipers -- they come with retaining hardware, cost about $70, and can be obtained on Amazon with prime (2-day) shipping. The part # for the passenger side is FRC11040, driver side is probably one up or down from that.
If you're going to need new rotors and pads anyway, i'd recommend this work. If your brakes are currently working adequately -- no shudder and no harsh conditions -- stock is probably fine.
