Today I wrapped up pretty much the last of my maintenance items on my '99 SR5. Thought I'd reports a few things I learned.
The biggest job was the brake pads/rotors. Stock. I ordered everything from Camelback with no issues. The job itself was amazingly simple; if you are hesitant about doing your own brakes, like I was, just watch a few YouTube videos.
Since this was going to be a one-man job, I opted to use the Russell Speedbleeders. These are what I used on STOCK calipers:
Russell 639560 Speed Bleeder
The only issue I had, and it's my fault, is that I used silicone paste on the shims thinking that would be OK. Wrong. As soon as I reassembled everything and went for a test drive, I heard a "rattling" sound. The brakes worked fine, just noisy. After some investigation, I found out that what I needed to use was "brake grease".
This is the grease I ordered:
Loctite 40300 Disc Brake Quiet Stick, 19-gram
This stuff comes in a tube just like Elmer's Glue Sticks for paper, and has close to the same tacky consistency. Today it proved itself by getting rid of the rattling sound after I took apart the brakes for a second time. Lesson learned.
My other task was replacing the sway bar bushings. For that I used the red Prothane kit.
Prothane 18-1115 Red 26 mm Front Sway Bar Bushing Kit
While researching this, I found some 2016 threads on this forum discussing the fact that the end link bushings supplied were the wrong size from Prothane. I can report that this seems to have been cleared up, as my kit installed with no issues. (This is also where I first heard the silicone paste which caused me issues with the brakes.)
Mission Automotive Dielectric Grease/Silicone Paste/Waterproof Marine Grease (8 Oz.)
While doing the sway bar bushings, I noticed that the end links were showing more wear than I was comfortable with on the long rod that goes thru the hole at the end of the sway bar itself. Just friction wear on the passenger side; none at all on the driver side. So, back to Amazon. After seeing that Toyota wanted around $80 each for end link, and reading in this forum how others opted for non-OEM end links since they are not a "critical" component, I ordered these:
ACDelco 46G20513A Advantage Front Suspension Stabilizer Bar Link Kit
The quality seems pretty good. Since I already had the Prothane bushings, I used those instead of the black ones that came from ACDelco. I also re-used the cupped end caps from the original end links since they were a little larger and fit the Prothanes better.
To reward myself for all my hard work, I just placed an order for an oval red/silver grille badge that been discussed here recently.
Aluminum TEQ Universal Badge (Round and Oval)