Advice needed on brakes (1 Viewer)

[Frkens]

Hi fellas,

Need some advice on my brakes. Just installed new brakepads yesterday. Brand new. No certain brand though...

I drove around today and I could feel that they were dragging a lot! Now I took the wheel and the new pads off and I cannot see what is wrong. I have three different theories. It seems like it is only a problem on the left front wheel.
1. New brake pads are too large
2. Little rubber seal has a leak (I don't know how this would cause the brakes dragging)
3. Pistons that press brake pads won't retract.

 

[crashmonk]

Did the pistons compress ok? No noticeable drag?

 

[OSS]

Time for new remanufacured calipers (they're inexpensive). The pistons are sticking.

 

[Frkens]

Yes they compress, the car brakes fine (except for the air in the brakelines). Can't bleed them until I have a new bleeding valve which I'll get in the upcoming week. No noticeable drag to either side. Guess that could mean drag on both sides?

 

[Frkens]

@OSS do you think I can find them at a Toyota dealership?

 

[crashmonk]

Time for v6 4 runner upgrade! Advance auto has promo codes I've used for like 30% off when purchased online. The trick is to use the same code on each caliper, 2 separate transactions....

I've had this happen on stuff before, install new pads, pistons compress ok, didn't drag before, BUT they drag afterwards. Only fix was replace caliper...

 

[Frkens]

@crashmonk darn, guess that's what I'll have to do. However I'm on a roadtrip on my way to the tip of Southamerica from LA. I'm in Ecuador right now, and the best I have at hand is a Toyota dealership an hour away from here.

 

[OSS]

Toyota doesn't have remanufacured calipers. And if they had new ones (I think they are discontinued) they are prohibitively expensive.

 

[crashmonk]

Ah man, you're at the mercy of your surroundings!? Good luck, worst case, try and lube up your pistons and work them free.

Otherwise advance auto is pretty darn cheap.

95 4 runner calipers end up 35 a piece after cores.

 

[Frkens]

@crashmonk and @OSS I took the caliper off and could barely pull the pistons out of it. One of them was nearly rusted stuck. Man am I glad I took a look at this before it got dangerous. And holy sh** it's lucky it didn't rust stuck in the inner position.

I'm at a hostel and it's midnight. Just packed everything down and bled the brakes. Can't wait to take it on the road tomorrow and hopefully feel the difference!

Here's the four pistons before I reinstalled them. They look a lot better! Still room for improvement but this will keep me on the road at least.

 

[gregnash]

Rebuild kits are available from Toyota I believe, if not from just about auto parts store. Rebuilding them is a bit time consumptive but overall a simple job (not much different from what you just did). I would recommend doing a full rebuild on them when you have a little more time.

 

[Frkens]

So I'm at a Toyota dealership in Ambato, Ecuador, right now. My brakes worked like sh** on my way in, but luckily it was a decently flat drive and not too much downhill. My white knuckles have turned somewhat skin colored again.

I inquired a price for a new brake caliper. 1223USD. That's going to be a no-no. The import taxes are insane. New bleed valves however are 4USD a piece, so I'll replace them all and get two extra spares. The calipers need some TLC, but they're not worth swapping with a new pair for more than 2k bucks.

I looked for new shockabsorbers (not sure what they're called) for the exhaust pipe. I had two spares which I replaced, but I need two more. The current condition of two of them is very bad. They're 50USD a piece. That's also going to be a no-no. I'll look for them when we reach Peru.

Rear shocks are apparently not doing too fine. The right one of them is leaking form what they told me. I just thought it was dirt from driving on crappy roads. Anyway it's not going to be done here in insane expensive Ecuador. Peru is where I'll give it a shot. Any recommendations for what I should get??

 

[gregnash]

For the shocks you can use the RockAuto selector to find a comparable shock and then ask a shop in Ecuador to see if they are available. Your suspension is stock correct? If so then a stock replacement is either KYB or Monroe shocks. The info on lengths is floating around somewhere on here.

 

[89BIGBLUE]

Just ordered some of these.

 

[Frkens]

Good to know that I can get a hold of them if I choose to take the car back to Denmark.

The guys from the shop just showed me the bleed valves they found. They're shorter. Do you guys think it'll be a problem? They claim here that it won't.

 

[Seth_O]

Length of the threads is not critical, the sealing surface and shoulder needs to be the same. Honestly those look close enough I would try them.

 

[crashmonk]

Be sure to use a 6 point!

 

[Frkens]

They worked, and our brakes has been working without problems since yesterday. Turned out it was a good day to do the repair. From the Toyota dealership we drove south, and on some of the most gnarly steep hillsides I've ever seen. Also the weather was foggy. So much that we couldn't see the lines on the road.

Truck drivers here are insane. They overtake in this weather and keep on driving at 40-60mph.

 

[Seth S]

Rockauto.com has a mountain of reman caliper choices from $25 to $75.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog....2l+l6,1276523,brake+&+wheel+hub,caliper,1704

 

[forestdan7]

If you've got access to the tools, I've had success with modifying those exhaust cushions so they'll never fail again. Take the bad ones and cut the bolts off flush top and bottom. Then clamp it and drill through where the bolts used to be. Get some hardware long enough to bolt through the cushions, and tighten them down tight enough to hold but loose enough to still give you some cushioning. Put an extra nut on there so they can't loosen. Haven't had to mess with mine for a couple of years now, and I was ripping those things in half every time I went wheeling.