A complete goober is going to fix his brakes

[SouthTxGX]

I’ll be replacing my rear brake pads, rotors, and parking brake shoes later this month so I’m looking for advice on tools and techniques to make it easier for someone who hasn’t done this in close to 20 years and the last time I messed with brake shoes was on a 62 Chevy pickup. I’ll be picking up one of these parking brake tools help with the retainers.

I’ve already got wrenches, ratchets, sockets, and pry bars. Anything else you guys would recommend? I’d rather take the money I’d spend on labor at Toyota or a shop and buy the tools to do it myself. If I delve into replacing the calipers I’ve heard that bleeding the brakes afterwards requires techstream. Is that true?

 

[r2m]

Here you go!


Rear Brake Pad Replacement on 2010-2017 Lexus GX460, 2003-2017 Toyota 4Runner, GX470, etc. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3TzE1nN74U
Have fun!

 

[SouthTxGX]

Here you go!


Rear Brake Pad Replacement on 2010-2017 Lexus GX460, 2003-2017 Toyota 4Runner, GX470, etc. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3TzE1nN74U
Have fun!

Definitely gonna watch some videos beforehand. Thanks!

 

[Banandalorian]

You need techstream access to do a complete brake bleed as IIRC that's the only way to purge fluid/air from some ABS accumulator. I think you only need to do that if you are changing calipers, lines, or fluid. If you're just doing pads and rotors I believe you can do a basic bleed from the caliper, but it likely won't be needed.

I would suggest hitting the caliper bolts that hold them to the hub with some penetrating oil the day before. I just did a brake job on mine and the front caliper bolts were really stuck. It took a couple of hours of PB Blast + impact wrench and giant breaker bar to finally get them loose. The rotors also have a threaded hole on the mounting face that you should use to pop those off the hub. I believe it's M8x1.25.

You'll need something to spread the calipers and grease for the pins and pads. Make sure you have, or re-use, the shims that go on the back of the pads otherwise you'll get uneven wear and squealing brakes pretty quickly. Also have something to either hold or rest the caliper while it's off so you don't stretch any lines or wires. If your caliper bolts aren't weirdly stuck, this is a pretty easy job.

 

[Rednexus]

FWIW, I pulled the rear rotors of my GX this past weekend and both parking brake shoes were in excellent shape at 172K, with lots of life left. One of the spring retainers had failed causing some parking brake noise, so I replaced that, cleaned the parking brakes, and adjusted them (via the star wheels) and they work great. So, I'd be pretty surprised if you do actually need new parking brake shoes. If you do need to replace the shoes, I found the best way to get the springs back on (retainer springs) was to put zip-ties on the spring to compress it, then snip them once installed. I saw that on a YouTube video and it worked very well. They are kind of a pain overall but it's not terrible. Make sure to get a new hardware kit as well, I used a Beck-Arnley kit from Amazon and it was fine. The rotor may also be stuck on over the parking brake, mine was and I hit it a few times with a hammer and it came right off.

Also FWIW, I've replaced all 4 calipers and all 6 flexible brake lines on my 470 (very similar system to the 460) and always bled them normally from the caliper. The electric system is crazy-easy to bleed, if you have a helper go through a normal bleeding procedure (pedal down, open bleeder valve, close bleeder valve, pedal up, repeat) with the key on, it will squirt out a constant stream of brake fluid. Much easier/quicker than old-school brakes that run off of engine vacuum. The key in this is of course to make sure the master cylinder is always topped off.

 

[SouthTxGX]

FWIW, I pulled the rear rotors of my GX this past weekend and both parking brake shoes were in excellent shape at 172K, with lots of life left. One of the spring retainers had failed causing some parking brake noise, so I replaced that, cleaned the parking brakes, and adjusted them (via the star wheels) and they work great. So, I'd be pretty surprised if you do actually need new parking brake shoes. If you do need to replace the shoes, I found the best way to get the springs back on (retainer springs) was to put zip-ties on the spring to compress it, then snip them once installed. I saw that on a YouTube video and it worked very well. They are kind of a pain overall but it's not terrible. Make sure to get a new hardware kit as well, I used a Beck-Arnley kit from Amazon and it was fine. The rotor may also be stuck on over the parking brake, mine was and I hit it a few times with a hammer and it came right off.

Also FWIW, I've replaced all 4 calipers and all 6 flexible brake lines on my 470 (very similar system to the 460) and always bled them normally from the caliper. The electric system is crazy-easy to bleed, if you have a helper go through a normal bleeding procedure (pedal down, open bleeder valve, close bleeder valve, pedal up, repeat) with the key on, it will squirt out a constant stream of brake fluid. Much easier/quicker than old-school brakes that run off of engine vacuum. The key in this is of course to make sure the master cylinder is always topped off.

I should mention that I’m changing them due to being soaked with gear oil due to a bad rear axle seal.

 

[Rednexus]

I should mention that I’m changing them due to being soaked with gear oil due to a bad rear axle seal.

Probably a good idea .

Let us know what kind of shoes you end up using and how they worked. I had a heck of a time finding the shoes anywhere when I bought mine, (at that time I was thinking they needed to be replaced and were the source of the e-brake noise). The ones sold at O'Reillys had terrible reviews, ones from AutoZone were not even available. I ended up with a set of Dynamic Friction pads from Amazon. Given the difficulty in sourcing these pads I'm keeping them on the shelf in case they do need to be replaced later on.

 

[SouthTxGX]

Probably a good idea .

Let us know what kind of shoes you end up using and how they worked. I had a heck of a time finding the shoes anywhere when I bought mine, (at that time I was thinking they needed to be replaced and were the source of the e-brake noise). The ones sold at O'Reillys had terrible reviews, ones from AutoZone were not even available. I ended up with a set of Dynamic Friction pads from Amazon. Given the difficulty in sourcing these pads I'm keeping them on the shelf in case they do need to be replaced later on.

I ordered all oem stuff. I figure the original stuff lasted nearly 150k miles so it’s worth it. Ordered it all from bell Lexus and saved a good chunk compared to buying from the Toyota dealer.

 

[re_guderian]

I’ll be replacing my rear brake pads, rotors, and parking brake shoes later this month so I’m looking for advice on tools and techniques to make it easier for someone who hasn’t done this in close to 20 years and the last time I messed with brake shoes was on a 62 Chevy pickup. I’ll be picking up one of these parking brake tools help with the retainers.
View attachment 3429167
I’ve already got wrenches, ratchets, sockets, and pry bars. Anything else you guys would recommend? I’d rather take the money I’d spend on labor at Toyota or a shop and buy the tools to do it myself. If I delve into replacing the calipers I’ve heard that bleeding the brakes afterwards requires techstream. Is that true?

Smart man, hopefully you've read this thread... Parking Brake re-assembly tips - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/parking-brake-re-assembly-tips.1265971/#post-14092682

I would also pick up all new e-brake hardware (pins, springs, etc), either from Bell Lexus if you have time for shipping, or from your local Lexus place, they're not too expensive.

Techstream is easy for bleeding the rears, it just pushes the fluid through.