Brakes (1 Viewer)

[FJ62 Jose]

I need help/recommendations if possible.

i have an ‘88 Fj62.

took my Bertha to my mechanic and he is recommending I replace front calipers, rotors, pads and brake lines. the truck wobbles side to side a bit under braking.

question 1: should I rebuild the calipers?
Q2: Should I buy replacement calipers?
Q3: Should I convert to different calipers that use oem rotors? I have a stock master cylinder and 15” wheels.

mall help is appreciated.

 

[poptart]

The answer to all of the above is, depends on how much you wanna spend. Since your even entertaining the idea of something other than OEM I’m guess your not a die hard has to be stock type person.

Rebuilding caliper is usually the cheapest but runs the highest risk of not working in my opinion. Always a slippery slope with rebuilds, some people do it just fine, others have nothing but issues and end up wasting money on the rebuild kit and end up buying new calipers anyways.

As far as upgrades go, ‘95 4Runner calipers work and improve stopping. The real upgrade is tundra brake mod, but that’ll impact your wallet a bit more

 

[YooperCruiser]

Just buy new calipers if you need them. These 4 piston calipers are not the easiest to rebuild, the two halves have to be separated.

 

[hj 60]

Maybe it is different than my hj60 but it sounds like regular maintenance?
And a mechanic has no time to search for one seal, he (she,it) just orders the kit and is done, same for the caliper cylinders.
The rebuild calipers seem nice (also price) but I have no clue how they are compared to OEM (lasting in time)

I think it is about the soft rubber brake lines, also regular maintenance, if it is also about the hard brake lines that is a bit more work.

Why not try to do this yourself? it is also birf time and oh, no a lot of ''while in there'' clouds and thunder.

I did not separate them, just new rubbers and the old cylinders were very damaged but still reused them and no problem in years.

 

[cps432]

I bought rebuild kits for my calipers thinking I would go that route, but when I got everything apart I abandoned that quest and just bought two remanufactured calipers from Oreilly. Haven’t had any problems at all and it saved me at least a day messing around with rebuilding 30+ year old brake parts. I also replaced everything in the entire brake system at once. All drums, rotors, pads/shoes, lines, calipers, master, booster... etc... all brand new at the same time. Super stopping power and super peace of mind.

 

[OSS]

Remanufactured calipers are fine and very inexpensive. Have the rotors replaced with comparable

 

[g-man]

I'd just buy new calipers. Pads are easy. Calipers ...not to hard...be careful disconnecting the short brake line the connects the caliper to the backing plate...I've wrung them off inside the elbow fitting on the back of the plate. Use a line wrench and plenty of penetrating lube.

Rotors are going to be a pain to swap. You have to press out the studs and press back in to separate the hub from the rotor. You have to undo a bunch of stuff to get the hub off....taking off the outer hub locks, the snap ring, 54mm nuts, etc to get them off....you'll be 1/2 way to the knuckle so you may want to consider a knuckle rebuild...especially if you have leaky or loose knuckles. Before you separate the rotors from the hubs you may want to take a digital caliper to them and verify that in fact they are worn down to the point of being out of spec. If they're not, just have them turned. Also consider repacking the wheel bearings and replacing the seals while you have the hub off.

 

[Seth S]

I think OEM calipers may still be available from the dealer as well. But I have had good luck with the low cost remans for other cars from Rockauto. New rotors, pads, calipers, flexible hoses, and a fresh flush of new brake fluid will never be a bad investment. Also while your mechanic is doing the brake work it’s a good time to check and adjust the front wheel bearing play as that can cause interesting steering and brake problems too.

 

[FJ Silver]

In particular since it's front brakes I would buy new/rebuild calipers so it'll brake in a straight line. Brakes are not hard to work on, just a lot of work.

I just replaced the rotors and flushed the lines front and back and it's breaking so well.

 

[poptart]

Just out of curiosity, what brand remanufactured calipers are you guys ordering of Rockauto.

I've usually stuck with Centric for every brakes whenever anything needs replaced on any of my cars, but I starting to dislike their rotors and drums. No issues with their calipers though.

 

[Seth S]

I've had no problems with centric calipers but its all a bit of a gamble on reman's. Of course not that much of a gamble with prices like these. You could splurge and get the fancy coated Centrics on the bottom. The last rotors I put all around on my road car had an anti corrosion coating on them and they were quite inexpensive and 9 months later and one salt laden Vermont winter are still holding up well.

 

[Seth S]

$27.79 a rotor with corrosion coating. hard to beat pricing like that

 

[poptart]

I've had no problems with centric calipers but its all a bit of a gamble on reman's. Of course not that much of a gamble with prices like these. You could splurge and get the fancy coated Centrics on the bottom. The last rotors I put all around on my road car had an anti corrosion coating on them and they were quite inexpensive and 9 months later and one salt laden Vermont winter are still holding up well.

View attachment 2640084

When I did my brakes last year, I did splurge on the coated 4runner calipers from centric, the price isn't actually terrible considering they included pads. At the time, I didn't feel like painting my calipers had to many other things going on. For what it's worth the coating isn't terrible, but it's not any powder coated brembo either. Time will tell how long they hold up.

I think I got the coated centric rotors from centric and centric drums in the rear. The drums were far out of round, I had to get them turned. The rotors on my FJ62 seem fine for now, but I've had almost every set of aftermarket rotors warp on me. Wife's car also has centric rotors and I'm starting to feel vibration in the pedal. And the same thing happened with centric rotors in my last beater commuter car. Now, I'm not going to say that centric is junk, because I'd bet they're on par with all the other aftermarket vendors for rotors. I just think it is what it is for cheap aftermarket rotors/drums. That being said I think I'm going to go back to swearing off anything that isn't OEM at least for rotors and drums. Unless obviously upgrading to something quality like DBA for the LC.

 

[poptart]

View attachment 2640105

$27.79 a rotor with corrosion coating. hard to beat pricing like that

Yeah that's what I got. Coating seems to be working okay, I've have them about a year now and there's not much rust. Especially compared to my brake drums, which I put on at the same thing and have already painted twice and you can't even tell with all the surface rust.

 

[Seth S]

Here is a good overview on the warped rotors myth

Stop the ‘Warped’ Rotors Myth and Service Brakes the Right Way / CrossDrilledRotors.ca Official Blog

Crossdrilledrotors.ca – Canada’s first choice to all canadian brake rotors, brake pads, brake kits, and brake calipers. Premium and performance parts made in Canada, ships free across Canada, no duties no customs, limited lifetime warranty on parts.

www.crossdrilledrotors.ca

 

[poptart]

Uneven, runout, warped, not flat, fubar etc.... just a different word to describe the same thing.

But hey Canadian company and I know they have laws that force you call people by their selected pronoun up there so... they can be picky on what they want to called messed up rotors too I guess

 

[FJ62 Jose]

So hold that thought..

are the 4runner front calipers plug and play? do I have to get brackets??

What is the difference between the 4runner calipers and the rebuilt FJ60 calipers

 

[poptart]

So hold that thought..

are the 4runner front calipers plug and play? do I have to get brackets??

What is the difference between the 4runner calipers and the rebuilt FJ60 calipers

4Runner caliper are somewhat plug and play. They’re a large piston caliper, meaning more pressure. The down side is if you don’t swap your master cylinder it’ll make the pedal spongier and longer. Lots of people upgrade to larger bore cylinder to combat this. However, with a smaller bore your getting more pressure.

They mount on the factory mount no problem, so no bracket needed. However, they interfere with the backing plate. You can either trim the plate or use a backing plate eliminator. They may also interfere with your wheels depending on what wheels you have. Lots of threads about this if you search around.

 

[poptart]

Oh I should mention that i know if you eliminate the backing plate you’ll need different hoses that go directly to the caliper. I’m not 100% if this is required if you trim the backing plate.

Here’s a pic of my setup without a backplate and with the 4Runner calipers and braided stainless lines from the axle to the caliper. If you go the route on eliminating the backing plate it’s a good time to rebuild your knuckles.

 

[FJ62 Jose]

WOW!! super sharp.!! Ok.. I think I might just go this route then..

I will assume you are using Land cruiser rotors and not 4runner rotors.. just making sure.. I know the rotors are not interchangable.

Thanks!!