Dockside Chat - Why my Tundra getting recalled is not bad at all.

My 2004 Tundra got recalled for the ball joints. Sent it to the shop yesterday, good thing about having a girlfriend that teaches is she has time in February then April to get things like taking my truck to get things done to it that I can't do in. So after 2 hours, I get brand new upper and lower ball joints and an alignment. While my trucks alignment wasn't off much at all, knowing it is dead-on and getting done for free is just fine with me. Not a single issue in 60,000 miles now. Towing the boat and snowmobile trailers 200 miles north weekends in the winters, good to go.

I replaced my front disc brake pads last night. After getting a quote from Toyota for $185 for labor!!! and Pep Boys wanted $95 just for labor, I said my time is worth at least that much or I believed that I could save the $!00-200 and do it myself, after all, I've done pad jobs tons of times, on the Toyota it is all just so easy, the pins come out without a fight, I had at least 30,000 miles left on the pads but replaced them anyway because the longer I wait, the harder I believed it would be to do the job later. I'm also glad I got new anti-squeal shims even though they cost $45 or about as much as the pads which were around $60 but all in all, the twin piston calipers pushed right back in without a fight at all, I didn't have to bleed anything and after a hour and a 1/2 I was done and road testing, my brakes are spot on once again and I'll need them as I'll be driving down to FL come May 18 or so.

Great to be able to do some some repairs on modern vehicles. I remember when discs first came out, many were scared. Little did they realize that discs were so much easier to replace.

Did you remove some fluid from the Master cyl. before compressing the calipers? I know it's necessary if you top off the fluid level on a regular basis. Have seen many make a mess under the hood by neglecting that step. Brake fluid is a great paint remover.


ron

I love mine ('02) - 130,000 miles and no problems. Still gets the same gas mileage as day 1 too.

nj ron - 4/18/2007 4:26 PM


Did you remove some fluid from the Master cyl. before compressing the calipers? I know it's necessary if you top off the fluid level on a regular basis. Have seen many make a mess under the hood by neglecting that step. Brake fluid is a great paint remover.


ron

You shouldn't have to if you squeeze them slowly.

I've never had to, on any car/truck I've done it on (but I do squeeze slowly too)

Jim... If you have 30 to 40 K miles on the brakes the caliper pistons will move outward as the pads wear, causing the calipers to retain more fluid. If you top off the master cylinder on a regular basis, then compress the caliper pistons, the added fluid will have nowhere to go but over the upper lip of the master cylinder.

If you dont top off the master, then you are good to go. I always top mine off so as not to suck air into the lines.

ron

I did not need to take any fluid out at all. What I did do is pry the cap off the fluid reservior as it is not a screw-on cap on these things and I never put any fluid in to top off, I figure it is why there is a Max-Min line since the only reason it goes down is to take up the volume in the amount that the brake pads are wearing and I knew that once the line went closer to the Min-line, the closer I'd be to replacing the pads since Toyota is good at engineering things this way. So I pried off the cap, left it loose on top of the reservior and using the plastic coated handle of a pair of pliers, gently and easily pushed the two pistons back in so I could fit the new pads in, the pistons went in so easy, easier than any caliper I've ever worked on, boy was I happy about that. Also, once I got the new pads in and looked at the brake fluid res., sure enough, it was back to the MAX line, so great.

I love my 04 but lust for an 09 or 2010 once they go down in price some and are really proven.

Toyota is good about making the pad changes easy. Not like other cars/trucks where the caliper needs to be taken off the carrier, ugg! Just two small clips, pull/push pins out and pads are out, new ones in and done. Thankfully I bought the manuals for the truck off ebay way back when so I knew to get the anti-squeal shims, had I not gotten them I would have been pretty angry at myself for having to put everything back together again and wait another day or so.

nj ron - 4/18/2007 4:42 PM

Jim... If you have 30 to 40 K miles on the brakes the caliper pistons will move outward as the pads wear, causing the calipers to retain more fluid. If you top off the master cylinder on a regular basis, then compress the caliper pistons, the added fluid will have nowhere to go but over the upper lip of the master cylinder.

If you dont top off the master, then you are good to go. I always top mine off so as not to suck air into the lines.

ron

The only time I have ever had to add fluid in the system is when I bleed them and/or needed to replace calipers on my trucks. I check EVERYTHING on my truck on a regular basis. One thing I am VERY picky on is brakes. I don't even turn rotors. I replace them with every pad change. When the shoes were bad on my old truck I replaced the drums as well. I'm well aware of how brake calipers work, but thanks for the tutorial.