2015 Tundra didn't move when placed in drive.

I drove about 7/10 of a mile from my sister-in-law's house to mine when I noticed something unusual. The brake pedal felt unusually firm, and the truck seemed to have some drag. As I was backing into my driveway, the same dragging sensation continued, making it clear that something wasn't right.

When I shifted into drive, I had to press the gas pedal harder than usual to get the truck to move. What I didn’t expect was for the rear tires to start spinning, causing the truck to lurch forward. Then, the RPMs dropped unexpectedly, even though I was still pressing the gas pedal. I let off the gas and pressed it again, but the same thing happened.

I got out to investigate and immediately smelled something hot—it turned out to be the front brakes. The engine didn’t stall, and it runs fine when the truck is in park or neutral.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? If so, how did you fix it?

 

Sounds like a frozen caliper

 

I thought the same thing, both both front brakes are super hot.

 

Did u accidentally bump 4wd?

 

No, not in 4-wheel drive. Can a bad brake booster cause a hard pedal, the front brakes to stick, and the ABS and Antiskid lights to come on?

 

Frozen caliper doesn't mean cold, means stuck in squeezing the brake rotor mode, would create heat.

 

If those lights are on, it needs to be scanned

 

This. The caliper isn’t returning to full open and is applying pressure to the brake pads. Could be from corrosion on the caliper slides, gunk/corrosion in the lines, a bad master cylinder, a pinched line, or faulty ABS block -among other things. Remove the wheels and visually inspect pads, rotors, and calipers. Flush the brake lines and see what comes out. Should be a good place to start.

The lights on the dash are just the traction control doing it’s thing. The back tires are spinning faster than the fronts so it cuts throttle to limit wheelspin. In this case, the lights indicate a temporary and immediate issue, not a fault or long term issue like a check engine light.

 

I did change the left front caliper. The 2 outside brake pistons went in when the C-clamp was applied, but the inside piston did not move when I used the clamp. I test-drove the truck with the same result, the hard pedal, and front brakes felt like they were dragging the truck to a stop, and the anti-skid and ABS lights came on (all within 2 miles). I pulled the battery cable for over 30 minutes, then another test drive, the lights were out, and the truck seemed to drive great for the first 2 miles, then the brakes started dragging again, hard pedal, and the lights came back on. The front brakes would stop the truck without me pressing the pedal, the RPMs dropped as I pressed the gas pedal. If I let off the gas, pumped the brakes, and then applied gas the truck would move. As long as I didn't touch the brakes I could limp my way home.

 

I broke down and took it into the shop today. The mechanic called and said my front brake hoses are bad. I'm going to change them myself. I'll let you know if it fixes my problem.

 

I would be looking at the master cylinder … any work done under the hood or under the dash/brake pedal area?

If the master cylinder develops a condition that the piston is kept from fully retracting, the fluid return port can be blocked. As the brakes drag, the fluid heats up and expands… if the extra volume can not be turned to the master cylinder reservoir, the caliper pistons apply the pressure to the brake pads until they lock up.

This condition is pretty common with motorcycles when someone messes with the brake lever free play and sets it too tight.

not saying bad brake hoses are not the fault, but they would need to be pinched causing a blockage between the caliper and m/c

Any way your brake pedal is not fully returning to its free position? Any accessories added under the dash in that area/wire harness not secure?
Tying to think if a brake booster can apply pressure to the m/c without an input from the pedal.

 

WhiteSR5, thank you for your reply. I'll try to address your questions in order. Work performed under the hood in the past two weeks. I replaced the secondary air injection valve because I had a P0418 code. Once I removed the intake manifold (to access the air valve), my valley plate (heat exchanger) had evidence of leaking, I had a rodent nest and a chewed knock sensor wire. Vacuumed up the nest, removed, cleaned, and resealed ($101 for a tube of sealant from Toyota) the valley plate, and a new intake manifold gasket. The only part of that work that has any association with the brakes is the vacuum hose to the brake booster check valve. There's plenty of vacuum and the check valve checked okay. My 5.7 has 208,XXX miles on her.
I've already explained the left front caliper replacement in my previous posts, it seemed to bleed down just fine. The brake pedal feels like it is in its normal position when not being applied. I have not added any accessories under the dash or hood. I am not sure if the brake booster can apply pressure without input (it would be a good thing to know). The mechanic said that the brake pistons of the right front caliper were hard to push back, and said that both hoses were bad.
I'm ordering the brake lines and will change them tomorrow. We'll see if that fixes the issue. I'm sure there's more to come.

 

This is not from bad brake lines. This is a frozen or stuck piston(s) in the caliper.

 

Sticking caliper will cause heat, wear and fluid degradation, but not cause the brakes to lock up as described. Rubber brake hoses are a a maintenance item, recommend replacement is 10 years or any visible damage/cracking. Sounds like the ABS is trying to work; combined with stiff pedal suggests the master cylinder is faulty…

To eliminate the brake booster as a suspect, you could try disconnecting the vacuum line to see if the condition returns with no brake boost. Be sure to plug the vacuum line to manifold and be careful because you would not have power brakes.

 

I replaced the two front rubber hoses (per the mechanic) and one metal line to the new right caliper. I test-drove the truck, and drove 30 highway miles to my son's work, with no major issues. but the pedal still didn't feel right. I got back on the highway and the front brakes started to act up. The truck struggled to gain speed and the steering wheel started to shake. I pumped the brakes (I'm sure people behind me thought I was trying to brake-check them) the shaking stopped and the truck seemed to run fine. I pulled up to a stop light and stopped with minimal brake pedal effort. I took my foot off the brake and the truck didn't move, I'm not sure what made me think to take my left foot and pull back on the brake pedal. It was like I let off the emergency brake, the truck's brakes let go, and off she went. I replaced the Master cylinder when I got home, and all is good. I dumped the old master cylinder out and noticed a dark residue (after the brake fluid) coming out of the cylinder. I can only think this residue is from the interior of the rubber brake hoses. My truck is 9 years old with 208k miles and I never flushed out the brake cylinder. Looks like that should be part of my maintenance program from now on. Thanks to everyone who tried to help me figure this out.