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Login to post Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » My truck has big ass brakes; who knew?

Sept. 20, 2009 12:17 a.m. motomoron Reader

I finally found time to do the first full round of service on the 2001 Toyota Tacoma V6 2WD Xtra cab prerunner I picked up last winter. It's a keeper for sure and I wanted to make sure all the stuff that should be done was current to start a maintenance schedule and log.

I've decided to try a totally radical new concept on this one:

I'm using all OEM Toyota parts, no fancy fluids, and following the book except a 3k mile oil change interval.

We'll see how I get by with one vehicle with the induction system it left the factory with. But I digress.

It needed front brakes. They'd been on the wear indicators for a month and the rotors looked to have been on a long time. Being completely devoid of time I just ordered pads and rotors when I was getting everything else (BTW, I searched and searched and trdpartscenter.com looks like about the best for OEM Toyota on the interwebz) without even taking a wheel off.

I was shocked and amazed to find when I removed the wheel today to find that is has great big 4 piston calipers. I didn't even have motorcycles w/ 4 piston calipers til' pretty far into this decade. So I'm impressed.

Overall the build quality and ease of service is very good too.
Sept. 20, 2009 7:09 a.m. ignorant SuperDork

motomoron wrote:

I was shocked and amazed to find when I removed the wheel today to find that is has great big 4 piston calipers.

They had those on my 86 toyota 4x4....................................... Yes they are big.
Sept. 20, 2009 12:42 p.m. Keith SuperDork

Remember that the amount of heat going into the brakes is directly proportional to the weight of whatever is being stopped. So a heavy truck with a heavy load needs a whole lot of brake.
Sept. 20, 2009 12:49 p.m. cwh Dork

Yeah, I had a one-ton Chevy van. Ginormous brakes on that one, too.
Sept. 20, 2009 12:50 p.m. novaderrik New Reader

GM cars had big 4 piston calipers in the late 60's..
Sept. 20, 2009 2:06 p.m. motomoron Reader

Yeah, the physics and thermodynamics are on my mind when you burn yourself on the valve caps and it's uncomfortably hot checking tire pressures after a 20 minute track session. I believe that the brakes on a typical enthusiast type car = like 700hp, right?

Still, my M3 is over 3k pounds and while it has pretty sizable rotors (aka longer levers) it still has modest single pot calipers. They are pretty amazing brakes w/ the euro M3 rotors and Hawk HT10 pads though.
Sept. 21, 2009 7:42 p.m. CLNSC3 New Reader

Does your prerunner have rear drums? Reason I ask is my good buddy has an X-Runner that has rear drums and I have been trying to find a cheap rear disc conversion for him!
Sept. 21, 2009 8:10 p.m. EricM HalfDork

I knew, sorry, I should have told you sooner. good Job figuring out though!
Sept. 21, 2009 8:42 p.m. blaze86vic Reader

Yeah, Mazda and Toyota have been commonly using 4 Piston calipers for a good while. Late 80's early 90's is when they started catching on. A lot of the Lexus stuff has them, RX7's had aluminum 4 piston calipers as early as the 80s as well.
Sept. 22, 2009 1:45 p.m. Buzz Killington Reader

WTH are "ass brakes"?
Sept. 22, 2009 1:58 p.m. Cotton HalfDork

The rotors on the front of my Dodge dually weigh over 50 pounds each...they are huge.
Sept. 22, 2009 2:29 p.m. keethrax Reader

Buzz Killington wrote:

WTH are "ass brakes"?

The rear ones. Duh.
Sept. 22, 2009 3:34 p.m. pinchvalve SuperDork

I have had good luck with www.1sttoyotaparts.com as well.
Sept. 23, 2009 5:39 a.m. foxtrapper SuperDork

Though interestingly, on the heaviest Toyota trucks, they went with 2 piston calipers.

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