Breakdown, front brakes or axle? (2 Viewers)

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Joined
Dec 14, 2024
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Location
Birmingham Al
Well, this just happened and I could use some advice.
I tow an 06 lx470 behind my RV.

Appearently this morning, the brake away system stuck the LX brakes on, but not fully.
This caused either the brakes to over heat or the front axle to over heat, not sure which.
Looks like axle fluid all of the inside tire wells and the plastic center caps are gone.

The brake reservoir is full so I assume it’s from the diff?

The CV axles are new, less than 5k miles and the fluid was fine before this trip.
The carnage happened in less than 40 miles between stops.

Any advice is appreciated.

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Now that the brakes are cooling, you can see the mess appears to be from the brakes, its poring fluid when they are applied.

Anyone know of a good cruiser shop in Vermont or Maine?
 
Those calipers look new, when were they replaced? Might've been a bad job or something, take the wheel off and inspect. Does truck have rust? see where the lines are and if it's leaking from the lines.
 
From the spray pattern it looks more like axles that brakes I don't see how brake fluid would have exited the middle of the axle. If its gear oil, you should be able to smell it, that stuff is pretty distinctive. Probably feel it, too, as it's pretty slick compared to brake fluid.
 
I think the axle leaked but the brake lines are definitely leaking on the passenger caliper. I can see the fluid squirt out when pedel is pressed
CV axles, rotors, brake assembly, pads etc are all new, less than 5k miles

I’m trying to clean it off enough to check it all right now, have to let it cool a while.
 
Towed it behind the RV to the nearest Toyota dealer.
The calipers in front are seized and all four rotors are gouged from the burned off pads.
Replacing the front calipers, pads and all four rotors, just waiting on the parts.

CV and Axles look good, lines are good, will have them check the diff while it's on the rack.
 
IDK, but it looks like it's coming from the axle by looking at the spray pattern. You mentioned that the CV axles were recently replaced. Were they replaced with original Toyota or aftermarket?
 
It was all supposed to be OEM parts.
Truck is on the rack at the dealer now, they say the axles are fine and all of the fluid is from the brakes.
I did confirm the passenger side was leaking on every press of the brakes.
 
The leaked fluid all over the wheel is definitely not hub grease or cv axle grease. Hub or the cv grease is too viscous to splatter like that. I’m positive that’s brake fluid. I’m curious how it reached the face of the wheel. I’m thinking the banjo brake fitting on the caliper backed out, spilled brake fluid all over the barrel of the wheel outward the face to the tire sidewall.
 
Having brake fluid on your paint is gonna be worse than having gear oil hub grease on your paint i would think.. in case that also occurred.
 
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That got to be hub grease. The hub got over heated and melted the grease into a liquid and passed through the gasket at the outer flange which supposed to hold viscos grease. Brake fluid cannot get into the hub. You might want to check the grease inside the hub.

Did you have the ignition on while towing? The car applied brakes on it's own, ATRAC kicked in? 40 miles of continuous brakes wear off the pads and then rotors.
 
That got to be hub grease. The hub got over heated and melted the grease into a liquid and passed through the gasket at the outer flange which supposed to hold viscos grease. Brake fluid cannot get into the hub. You might want to check the grease inside the hub.

Did you have the ignition on while towing? The car applied brakes on it's own, ATRAC kicked in? 40 miles of continuous brakes wear off the pads and then rotors.
I agree, the hub grease could have melted from the heat.
 
The grease cap is missing on one wheel, and I would guess loose on the other? I would surmise that the brakes bound up and started to heat up the corners, this has melted the grease in the hub which has expanded popping the grease cap out and then spread across the face of the wheel. The heat has eventually damaged a seal in the caliper so the brake pressure has released.

As well as the brake work I would strip both hubs and inspect all rubber seals then replace the grease with new. Then you need to work out how the brakes bound up. If the master cylinder is not adjusted properly and the reservoir port was covered you could have contained fluid between the master and the calipers. As this fluid warms it would slowly apply the front brakes. This would put more heat into the fluid which would apply them harder and so on.

As an aside I'm not sure a 100 series is ideal to flat tow for extended distances. You're spinning the gearbox internals without the oil pump running as it's driven by the (stationary) input shaft. However you guys in the US have much more experience of this than me!
 
Just a side note, nothing to do with your issue: are the tires from mid of 2018?!? ;)
 
Dude did you smell it... Maybe tasted it. Smell test will tell you exactly which fluid it is... No need to guess.
 
Finally back home.
The emergency breakaway system (RVI Brake 3) trigged in the LX, not sure why because there was not a breakaway and the safety pin was still in place on the tow gear. When the system triggers, it presses the brake pedal down to slow/stop the truck.
The ignition was OFF, but we leave the key in place to keep the column unlocked and the transfer case is in Neutral with the Transmission selector in Park.
The vast majority of the fluid was from the brake caliper, when the system triggered, it held the pedal down and the brakes overheated. It got so hot it melted the seals in the calipers and the passenger side was dumping brake fluid as a result. It also lost some bearing grease as evidenced by the center out pattern on the wheels. The passenger side bearing will need to be replaced but we could not get the parts, so it was cleaned, repacked and we will take care of it at home.

I used a portable pressure washer to clean as much of the truck as possible while I waited on the brakes and hardware to cool down enough to inspect. All of this happened in less than 30 minutes and at fairly low rates of speed, otherwise it might have been catastrophic.

Fortunately there was a Toyota dealer (Alderman's Toyota in Rutland, VT) about 20 miles away from where we located and they took the truck in right away while we stayed in a parking lot nearby. They replaced the calipers, pads, rotors, etc and got us back on the road in 2 days. Can't thank them enough for the help and they were just fantastic to deal with the entire time. The mechanics were shocked to see how clean it was underneath, they don't get clean southern trucks to work on, every single guy who looked at it commented on the lack of rust and corrosion.

I'll need to replace the Speed Sensor on the passenger side, along with the boots on the tie rods which melted from the intense heat, front bearings, caps, etc. Brake lines were fine, and didn't not appear to be damaged by the heat. Tires were already on the replacement list for after this trip, so I'll get to that after getting the rest of this mess taken care of. Fortunately it's not my daily driver, so it can sit for a bit while I collect the parts.

Thanks to everyone who commented and helped, I appreciate it!
 
Thanks for the update, glad you got it resolved and back home! @cruiseroutfit sells a handy-dandy front bearing kit that comes with everything needed, it's a great one to have in the spare parts kit; I have one tucked under the driver's seat, it's good peace of mind.
 

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