What the ultimate brake setup?

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LouisianaRubicon

LouisianaRubicon

10 Year
Joined
Jun 5, 2014
Threads
21
Messages
455
Location
Louisiana & Kansas City
A little background I'm on 315s and had leaking and worn factory brakes.

So a few months ago I fixed the leak and put on stop tech slotted rotors and the centric fleet pads. So far the performance is better but still just meh...

I'm getting ready to add armor and drawers so I want this thing to stop on a dime, but I'd settle for a 50 cent piece. What's your ultimate setup?

Should I switchEBC or Hawk pads?

Above mentioned in the 100 series flavor?

New brake booster?

Different brake fluid?
 
I feel my rig stops great with factory rotors, replaced calipers, new brake lines and 100 series autozone gold pads up front. Have you bled the lspv, and made sure air was out of the abs brain?
 
When you lock up the wheels are the tires skidding?
If so then the limitation is your Tires and not the brakes.

How old is your brake Fluid, and no air in the lines?

I run the EBC pads and I think they are plenty good.
I have not experienced the OEM pads since it arrived in my possesion with aftermarket.
 
First thing I would do is rebuild all 4 calipers with the OEM rebuild kits, replace the 20 something year old soft lines with new OEM, replace rotors with new OEM, replace pads with new OEM, make sure the system is tight and see where you are.
 
First of all, and as alluded to earlier, these trucks require way more brake bleeding than any other vehicle I've ever worked on. If you think you've bled it properly, you're probably only 1/3 of the way there. :hillbilly:

Aside from that little note, the single most effective brake upgrade I've done is fix my LSPV arm in the "all the way up" position which translates to full rear brake bias. I did have to replace both my front calipers at around 300k miles. I first only did one side, but that was a mistake. I only have 265/75 tires, but I feel this piggy stops better than my wife's late-model acura or my chevy volt.
 
You're running 315s, do you have a lift installed? When I lifted my truck I found that lowering the LSPV per Slee's instructions was not enough. I added a bracket to raise the axle side mount 2" which did greatly improve the proportioning.
 
I went to bigger calipers/discs on one of my truck. The one with OEM brakes stops better.
 
What wheel diameter are we limited by in your situation - the stock 16"?

Tundra calipers & 18" wheels are great (18's were my Tundra stock wheel) - but like others have said & I've a ton more experince with - EBC pads & proper bleeding on stock rotors I can get to skidding Goodyears on dry pavement.

Once you address old rubber lines & refresh your LSPV however you want after a lift - you can really get great results on either Hawk HP pads or EBC green, and orange or yellow (last set were one or the other, I forget).

Tundra calipers on those new histeer knuckles are going to be big. The Tundra is heavy & it can really haul down without kicking the ABS. And my Tundra needs new pads, that's how big the difference.
 
Have a pro look at your brakes.
Im 100% OEM with a LSVP bypassed and I have zero complaints. Im part-time so I dont have a working ABS and tip the scales at 6950lbs but I can lock all 4 up without any problem at any speed.
 
Thanks for the feedback fellas. I run the stock wheels so if I were to switch brake setups I would need to work with that in mind. However, sounds like the problem is not pads or rotors.

The tires do not skid what so ever. They will not lock up. The pedal feels spongy.

I'm sure the calipers could use a rebuild after 217k, bleed the lspv, replace the soft lines. Sound like a good plan of attack?
 
^^^ Yessir. Solid move there.

I can get into the ABS kicking on dry pavement with GY rubber (softest aside from prob some Intercos) in 315's.

I had to really bleed the crap out of my LX450 when it was new to me & I added radial Interco Boggers in ~37's (were a p-metric 16" & IIRC they were really 36.5" or so) -- point being the bigger the tire the more work to get to a ABS kicking or non ABS skidding braking power.

But yes - and if you do your own rebuilds on the calipers with Yota parts kits it's way cheaper & personally unless a real Yota rebuilt caliper, probably a better finished product. It was years ago but Dan price was ~$75 for all for corners kits.
 
LINUS said:
^^^ Yessir. Solid move there.

I can get into the ABS kicking on dry pavement with GY rubber (softest aside from prob some Intercos) in 315's.

I had to really bleed the crap out of my LX450 when it was new to me & I added radial Interco Boggers in ~37's (were a p-metric 16" & IIRC they were really 36.5" or so) -- point being the bigger the tire the more work to get to a ABS kicking or non ABS skidding braking power.

But yes - and if you do your own rebuilds on the calipers with Yota parts kits it's way cheaper & personally unless a real Yota rebuilt caliper, probably a better finished product. It was years ago but Dan price was ~$75 for all for corners kits.
Click to expand...

Thanks sir. Some parts from Beno are in order.
 
LouisianaRubicon said:
Thanks for the feedback fellas. I run the stock wheels so if I were to switch brake setups I would need to work with that in mind. However, sounds like the problem is not pads or rotors.

The tires do not skid what so ever. They will not lock up. The pedal feels spongy.

I'm sure the calipers could use a rebuild after 217k, bleed the lspv, replace the soft lines. Sound like a good plan of attack?
Click to expand...

Check the pricing on the OEM Caliper Rebuild Kits?
Rebuilt Napa Calipers that are tested before shipping are ~$80 (use 10% coupon).
My Calipers were so rusty (Bleeders must work) and pistons were stuck so I went that route. Unless your going to coat your rebuilds you are not ahead. Just thoughts.... Big Time Saver too.

There is a Rubber brake line on the Drivers side that is tough to replace I think the hard pipe that it connects to is awkward

Buy the Qt of Brake Fluid and run plenty thru each wheel (do not get it on paint) wash off with hose.
 
I just rebuilt calipers on the 4 corners of my LX450 this week. It is very time consuming, but I like doing this sort of thing. I like seeing the condition of the bores and the pistons. I like removing the bleeder and cleaning it out. I like to know that it was put together using all OEM parts and that the operation is smooth.
That said, it would be MUCH faster to simply swap calipers, but I would stick with the OEM product.

I've never had any issues bleeding brakes on my 91 or my 97. I allow each caliper to gravity bleed until full, then run a clear piece of tubing into a clear bottle with some old brake fluid in it. I pump the brake pedal with my hand about 1/2 a stroke until the fluid runs clear, then move to the next one. The rears will take several more pumps to clear out the old fluid from the lines, or you could just let gravity do it.
Remember to keep the reservoir topped off, activate your ABS several times after you're all done, and bleed the front left a second time to get the old fluid from the ABS pump out.
 
I should add I'm like @jonheld when it comes to getting into these.

My calipers were fine aside from a blown dust boot on a FR piston, and I like to get in there too rather than just buy some NAPA caliper (like he said, at minimum I'd get rebuilt calipers from Beno if there was a real reason over simple teardown & refresh). Complete calipers are a timesaver, and esp so if you have really corroded units or some such.

That's why I recommended the rebuild kits - and unless there's a reason buying a complete caliper is overkill I think.
 
LouisianaRubicon said:
A little background I'm on 315s and had leaking and worn factory brakes.

So a few months ago I fixed the leak and put on stop tech slotted rotors and the centric fleet pads. So far the performance is better but still just meh...

I'm getting ready to add armor and drawers so I want this thing to stop on a dime, but I'd settle for a 50 cent piece. What's your ultimate setup?

Should I switchEBC or Hawk pads?

Above mentioned in the 100 series flavor?

New brake booster?

Different brake fluid?
Click to expand...
Drive it accordingly: the cheapest remedy out there and it also extends your life expectancy.
 
LouisianaRubicon said:
Thanks for the feedback fellas. I run the stock wheels so if I were to switch brake setups I would need to work with that in mind. However, sounds like the problem is not pads or rotors.

The tires do not skid what so ever. They will not lock up. The pedal feels spongy.

I'm sure the calipers could use a rebuild after 217k, bleed the lspv, replace the soft lines. Sound like a good plan of attack?
Click to expand...

Check your bleeding - I have found 80 brakes do not like the pump and dump bleeding, resulting in a spongy pedal commonly. The best results for me is using a vacuum bleeding set up well worth it and can be done alone.
 
LINUS said:
I should add I'm like @jonheld when it comes to getting into these.

My calipers were fine aside from a blown dust boot on a FR piston, and I like to get in there too rather than just buy some NAPA caliper (like he said, at minimum I'd get rebuilt calipers from Beno if there was a real reason over simple teardown & refresh). Complete calipers are a timesaver, and esp so if you have really corroded units or some such.

That's why I recommended the rebuild kits - and unless there's a reason buying a complete caliper is overkill I think.
Click to expand...
I'm going to try the rebuild
 
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