Tundra Caliper/pads/rotors upgrade but what about the master and booster?!?

[martin.1991911]

heyy everyone i have done the 13WL tundra upgrade as well but i have to press really hard to stop quicker harder to lock up my 33" tires i find, when I first apply the brakes the pedal feels more squishy and goes down further but as soon as I let go and apply again it gets stiff and feel more normal!! do you upgrade the master aswell or what can help it?? i heard that you can go with a FJ80 master cylinder is that a bolt on nice and easy?? how about the booster ?? i was thinking maybe aswell upgrade the brake hoses to a stainless steel braided lines insted of the regular OEM rubber ones?? any input on this or what you guys have done to solve this problem??

 

[blizz86]

Did you properly bleed your brakes?

 

[audiness]

You most likely have an air bubble somewhere in your brake hydraulic system. bleed passenger rear, then driver rear, then passenger front, then driver front. in that order.

 

[shadow247]

Add stainless lines instead of the stock rubber is always an improvement! That is one of the first upgrades you do on a motorcycle to improve brake feel. After that, make sure you properly bleed your brakes. TWICE! I have access to a brake bleeding machine at work, at it made it a 5 minute job to flush and bleed my entire brake system on my last vehicle! It may be worth it to have it done using a flushing machine.

 

[martin.1991911]

I bleed the brakes my self and then I also had a shop bleed them so I don't think there is a air bubble or anything like that.

 

[So Many Roads]

First, bled the brakes correctly. Second, with the truck running and at a stop, pump the brake pedal many times to move the front pads in and align them close to the rotor.

Then adjust the rear brakes. Easiest way is to get up to about 10 mph in reverse and brake hard. Repeat. Sounds stupid, because you didn't do anything to the rears and have always assumed they're properly adjusted. But to get a firm feel with the Tundra's up front, your rear brake pads have to be close to the drum or you'll have more pedal travel.

My 2 cents. Someone correct me if you think this is wrong. It made all the difference when I upgraded.

 

[hrt4me]

did you properly break in your new brakes by bedding them, i.e. accelerate to 60 mph, then braking to slow back down to 5 mph (do not come to a complete stop) and repeating a few times...?

bed-in procedure

 

[blizz86]

There may be air still in the system that needs to be purged. You mostly likely used a one man kit and the shop most likely used a machine to do it. Try the traditional two man method, and then after that go to a street with leaves or gravel and brake hard to engage ABS, since that definitely gets the system free of air. That should do it.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Give the brakes at least 500 miles to work, then rebleed them. This worked well for me. You may have to do it twice.

I did see where someone used a MC/BB from a T100 that helped. If you go that route, take some pics and post them.

Thanks in part to fellow member Singtoe, he showed that the Sequoia/Tundra uses a different braking lever than that found on the 4runner. Can one be swapped out for the other? That I do not know but don't think so.

 

[Yoter]

Sounds like the break booster or master may be bad, no?
Or that you have a leak in the system and despite have bled the breaks twice, fluid may be escaping/air may be getting into the system. I would check all the connections on the new calipers and make sure nothing is leaking if you havent already.

 

[martin.1991911]

i have done all the right things when you do a brake job but i think it is the master or booster now gotta figure out which one!!

 

[justinh]

i have done all the right things when you do a brake job but i think it is the master or booster now gotta figure out which one!!

I agree with you. I've seen several other people mention it in the last year too. I think people are always hesitant to be critical of upgrades they do. The upgrade is STILL great and I've done it on my last 3 4runners, it is always the first thing I do. But even properly bled I've seen the same issue on multiple vehicles. These calipers require more volume of fluid from everything I've read and that can give an odd pedal feel at times. In my opinion the biggest reason for the braking upgrade is to get the thicker rotors that handle the heat better, it definitely stops better too, the tradeoff is an odd pedal feeling.

I think it can be resolved, I've looked at doing an OEM rear disc swap and once I do that (if I do) I'll definitely be upgrading the master cylinder/booster. I may take it on anyway but I don't want to do it twice. A sequoia, tundra, fj80 part should do it but I've not looked at it closely enough to know which is the most direct installation.

 

[martin.1991911]

FJ80

4Runner

Tundra

Seqouia

 

[opie74]

Make sure your rear brakes are adjusted properly. I had the exact same issue after I did the upgrade. Soft pedal and slow to react when first pushing the pedal down, give it 1 pump and they grabbed right now. I did some research and someone suggested checking the rear brake adjustment. So I did and adjusted them properly (till the shoes just start touching the drums) and everything started working as it should.

 

[martin.1991911]

Make sure your rear brakes are adjusted properly. I had the exact same issue after I did the upgrade. Soft pedal and slow to react when first pushing the pedal down, give it 1 pump and they grabbed right now. I did some research and someone suggested checking the rear brake adjustment. So I did and adjusted them properly (till the shoes just start touching the drums) and everything started working as it should.

Maybe cause the handbrake when I pull does nothing so maybe they need to be adjusted but I still don't get it why when the second time around I pump the brakes comming to a stop works soo much better if there was air or anything won't the first time you apply the breaks and second and third....... Be all the same feel?? Not one soft and the rest like normal??

 

[So Many Roads]

Make sure your rear brakes are adjusted properly. I had the exact same issue after I did the upgrade. Soft pedal and slow to react when first pushing the pedal down, give it 1 pump and they grabbed right now. I did some research and someone suggested checking the rear brake adjustment. So I did and adjusted them properly (till the shoes just start touching the drums) and everything started working as it should.

Ditto. Might as well try it. Hell of a lot faster and cheaper than replacing the MC.

 

[opie74]

Maybe cause the handbrake when I pull does nothing so maybe they need to be adjusted but I still don't get it why when the second time around I pump the brakes comming to a stop works soo much better if there was air or anything won't the first time you apply the breaks and second and third....... Be all the same feel?? Not one soft and the rest like normal??

First push on the pedal will send fluid to all four corners. The larger displacement of the tundra calipers coupled with out of adjustment rear brakes will equal a longer pedal travel. Push the pedal down the first time and you are spreading the rear shoes. Release and immediately push the pedal again and you have not given the rear brakes enough time to let the springs push the all the fluid out of the wheel cylinders.

Thats why an immediate second push equals a stiff pedal, but if you let some time lapse between pushes, you get the soft pedal.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Take a look at the rear shoes (pull off the drum) and see how it looks.

If you are not getting the rear brakes to lock up by pulling up the lever while on a hill, etc., then there is a problem. It should take no more than 7 clicks of the lever to hold a 4runner on a hill with just shoes.

 

[vincer77]

I bleed the brakes my self and then I also had a shop bleed them so I don't think there is a air bubble or anything like that.

It sounds like air in the lines to me. Did you manually bleed them using the brake pedal? If so, it is possible that you scored the seals on the pistons if you extended past the normal range of piston travel in the master cylinder.

I had never heard this before, but happened last time I changed brakes on my Yukon. Had to replace the MC also.

 

[martin.1991911]

Yaa I did the manual brake bleeding on it with my girlfriend if I did blow a seal or anything won't I loose brake fluid??