brake problem

[NYcarbineer]

From what you are saying, it almost sounds like Toyota may have put too weak of a drive train in those vehicles. Uncommon for that company, since their stuff is usually rock-solid.

blasphemy! lol

Have you checked your control arms?
If they are worn you'll get something that resembles axle wrap.

I had them checked when I had the tires put on

Be sure to tell us what it turns out to be.

btw, does the vibration pulse with the speed of the vehice, iow, is it a thump thump thump that gets faster or slower depending on how fast the vehicle is going when you depress the pedal?

Oh, I will!
Yes, I guess you can say that.

Something out of round or misaligned. Somebody said check the lugnuts for tightness.

lol, the redneck fix is...

if it's a 2 stage master cylinder, pull off the line going to the rear brakes and put a little rubber plug in the fitting, then put it back on. Voila! the rear brakes will be disabled and no more vibration, if they're the culprits. Your front brakes will stop you, most of the time, lol.

Happy motoring! Drive carefully.

To be honest I've done that before, but only because I had a busted rear brake line and I wanted to drive it to the shop without losing all the brake fluid and ending up on no brakes, or having to have it towed for $100.

I survived.

 

[strollingbones]

o lug nuts...good thinking......i had loose ones....my wheel came off as i was going down the road....i dont know what was worse...the noise of hitting the road with one wheel gones...or seeing your wheel rolling in front of you then up a hill....

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

As soon as I added some 33" tires to my 95 4-runner, my rear end started shaking when I hit my brakes. If I slam on them or barely use them they don't shake. If I use them "normally" all hell breaks loose.
I checked my fluid. I checked the balance. I know it isn't the booster. The drums are only about 10K miles old and the pads are fine.
Any advice?

Yes. Take the 33" tires off and put the other ones back on. Problem solved. No charge.

The Toyota 4 runner was not made for a 33" tire. Unless you change the rear end and axle to accommodate a 33" tire - it's too much tire for the truck, Harley.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

As soon as I added some 33" tires to my 95 4-runner, my rear end started shaking when I hit my brakes. If I slam on them or barely use them they don't shake. If I use them "normally" all hell breaks loose.
I checked my fluid. I checked the balance. I know it isn't the booster. The drums are only about 10K miles old and the pads are fine.
Any advice?

Yes. Take the 33" tires off and put the other ones back on. Problem solved. No charge.

The Toyota 4 runner was not made for a 33" tire. Unless you change the rear end and axle to accommodate a 33" tire - it's too much tire for the truck, Harley.

Nah....I've run 33s on all my Toyotas without a problem.

 

[TNHarley]

As soon as I added some 33" tires to my 95 4-runner, my rear end started shaking when I hit my brakes. If I slam on them or barely use them they don't shake. If I use them "normally" all hell breaks loose.
I checked my fluid. I checked the balance. I know it isn't the booster. The drums are only about 10K miles old and the pads are fine.
Any advice?

Yes. Take the 33" tires off and put the other ones back on. Problem solved. No charge.

The Toyota 4 runner was not made for a 33" tire. Unless you change the rear end and axle to accommodate a 33" tire - it's too much tire for the truck, Harley.

Nah....I've run 33s on all my Toyotas without a problem.

My dad has had super swampers on his 89' for years with no problems.
He also has super swampers on his rock crawler he built.
He is the reason I like Toyotas so much

 

[TNHarley]

As soon as I added some 33" tires to my 95 4-runner, my rear end started shaking when I hit my brakes. If I slam on them or barely use them they don't shake. If I use them "normally" all hell breaks loose.
I checked my fluid. I checked the balance. I know it isn't the booster. The drums are only about 10K miles old and the pads are fine.
Any advice?

Yes. Take the 33" tires off and put the other ones back on. Problem solved. No charge.

The Toyota 4 runner was not made for a 33" tire. Unless you change the rear end and axle to accommodate a 33" tire - it's too much tire for the truck, Harley.

33s aren't that big.. I would have put bigger but the hwy noise...

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

As soon as I added some 33" tires to my 95 4-runner, my rear end started shaking when I hit my brakes. If I slam on them or barely use them they don't shake. If I use them "normally" all hell breaks loose.
I checked my fluid. I checked the balance. I know it isn't the booster. The drums are only about 10K miles old and the pads are fine.
Any advice?

Yes. Take the 33" tires off and put the other ones back on. Problem solved. No charge.

The Toyota 4 runner was not made for a 33" tire. Unless you change the rear end and axle to accommodate a 33" tire - it's too much tire for the truck, Harley.

Nah....I've run 33s on all my Toyotas without a problem.

My dad has had super swampers on his 89' for years with no problems.
He also has super swampers on his rock crawler he built.
He is the reason I like Toyotas so much

I wont drive any thing else.
I wheel the shit out of em and they keep on working.

 

[NYcarbineer]

o lug nuts...good thinking......i had loose ones....my wheel came off as i was going down the road....i dont know what was worse...the noise of hitting the road with one wheel gones...or seeing your wheel rolling in front of you then up a hill....

I've had them loosen up after putting wheels on. If that's the problem though usually it gets worse and worse. Always worth checking though.
And grab each real wheel and shake it side to side, see if there's any play.

 

[BruSan]

Not knowing the vehicle intimately; are the wheels hub piloted or stud piloted and depending upon the answer it cold simply be a case of someone, when changing the tires leaving some rust or other crap on the face of the brake drum or inside of wheel to then cause distortion when re-torque was done.

Other consideration is; any imbalance of tire will be multiplied a lot while braking is done with lower air pressures in tires. The tire deforms under braking and balance of tire goes to extreme of the deformity so the shaking will gradually increase throughout a constant application braking event.

Sorta feels like you've gone over a diagonal railroad crossing at speed with a solid "I" beam front axle and worn-out shocks; you later get your self back in the seat and pick your dentures off the floor about two miles down the road.

 

[jillian]

Ignore it. Who needs brakes anyways?

Braking is just wasted energy and bad planning. Just coast. See new places, meet new people.

i understand. but i hate driving behind coasters.

 

[BruSan]

Trouble shooting tips.

Pump 'em up an additional 10-15 psi....observe any change in braking events.

Jack up one side until you can spin the tire by hand and see what you get viv-a-vis an intermittent drum drag. You could even slightly adjust shoes in tighter to see if the drag is even through a full rotation of tire. Doing that with both wheels might eliminate a suspected drum warp as cause.

Interchanging rear wheels with an inspection of wheel/drum mating surfaces.

Next up.....perform a full stop on a back country road using nothing but a gentle application of the E brake. This removes any front to rear brake bias question from the equation. If your problem persists with just using the E brake then a proportioning valve issue would not seem to be the case and you've narrowed it down to one of rear/brakes/wheels/tires. If however your problem goes away, now you've got to consider weight transfer forward and off those rear tires under normal braking causing or contributing to your problem.

 

[TNHarley]

Went to the shop this morning. I got out of this one for free.
Guy said his son had a 94 and it was doing pretty much the same thing. He said to go out and drive it for about 5 minutes using just the e brake.
I did it and it almost gone! I went back to tell him the results and he said just use it a little for the next couple of days.
There is barely a hobble back there now.
He said my back brakes never get used on my truck. 95% is all my front. The e brake just needed to get used a little...

 

[TNHarley]

He also said when I put the bigger tires on, it just aggravated it too much..

 

[TNHarley]

They need to put my weird ass story in a car magazine lol. I wish you guys could have felt that shake!!
Thanks for the help!

 

[TNHarley]

Just took it out on the four lane so I could check it at high speed. Doing 70 it shook bad but not AS bad. When I used the e brake and the floor brake together, it was smooth as could be

 

[BruSan]

That's good info to know.

Does anyone know if this vehicle has self adjusting rear shoes that will ratchet the adjuster screw if brakes are applied firmly while backing up?

If so you might find simply adjusting the shoes so that they are closer to the drum might solve your problem but if not, then changing out the rear proportioning valve for one that is adjustable will solve your problem forever.

If the braking bias is that pronounced that changing diameter of the tire is enough to cause this problem, I would suggest you've got a bit of a beast on your hands in any wet weather driving. Any serious braking event where you are not in a near perfect straight alignment could cause you to swap ends very quickly on wet pavement.

Until you get it sorted so you're confident with the results, please use more than normal caution driving in the wet.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

That's good info to know.

Does anyone know if this vehicle has self adjusting rear shoes that will ratchet the adjuster screw if brakes are applied firmly while backing up?

If so you might find simply adjusting the shoes so that they are closer to the drum might solve your problem but if not, then changing out the rear proportioning valve for one that is adjustable will solve your problem forever.

If the braking bias is that pronounced that changing diameter of the tire is enough to cause this problem, I would suggest you've got a bit of a beast on your hands in any wet weather driving. Any serious braking event where you are not in a near perfect straight alignment could cause you to swap ends very quickly on wet pavement.

Until you get it sorted so you're confident with the results, please use more than normal caution driving in the wet.

Yeah it has the reverse brake adjust feature.
That was one of the first things I recommended he try.

 

[tyroneweaver]

are the front and back tires different sizes?

There may be more truth to this then seems. Put your wifes sewing tape measure around the circumference. Could be off.
Just cause they say that size, they could be off.