T100 Front Brakes and Rotors (3.4l - 1/2 Ton 2wd RWD) Install PITA - Know your truck tonnage

Friends,

Firstly this is for my 1997 Toyota T100 2WD 3.4L V6 DLX Extended cab RWD 1/2 Ton Pickup.. I want to be very clear as you will see below.

I have a T100 that after some good usage started to have problems with front rotors and pads. The pad did not have the ware indicator on them so they didnt give me any signs of replacement until the rotors were chewed up..

Thinking this is an easy job I ordered some rotors and brakes for the truck. Well little did I know after putting in all the info for my truck on all websites they give 2 options 1 ton or 1/2 ton. I ordered for 1 ton thinking nothing of it. Well BIG mistake.. no where on my truck does it say my truck was 1/2 ton. I learned this the hard way when replacing the rotors. The rotor diameters were good but I didnt check the height.. which was a BIG DODO mistake.. cause the 1 ton rotors are taller/wider..and only after taking the hub out and putting on the caliper did I realize my mistake....

Anyways after ordering the correct parts again I was able to get the brakes done.. it was a PITA but I did learn a lot of new stuff doing the brakes.. like how to set pre load on the bearings etc.. good info to have..

Here's some info I can share with you all now I am done with this daam thing..

Here are some quick instructions of what needs to be done for those who are newbies...btw these instructions are to redo rotors as well.. if you want to do your front brakes then your job is way easier.

1. Remove the Tire
2. - Loosen the caliper piston by putting a flat screw driver between your brake pads and caliper piston---
- Remove upper caliper bracket bolt = 14mm. (i'll tell u why you need to remove this one first)
3. Remove upper caliper assembly bolt - 17mm (this is a hard one so you may need a breakerbar on this one..
4. Remove your brake pads
5. Replace Brake pads and 2 pad shims (1 each pad) and 4 caliper shims per caliper bracket.
6. Silicone Grease the brake caliper bolts/ brake grease the brake pads shims, caliper shims, top/bottom of brake pads.
7. Slide your new brake pads in.

(Do 1-7 in reverse using the torque settings below to set your caliper assembly and caliper bracket bolts)

(up till here you are just doing brake pads) To do new rotors please continue from step 5 skipping 6-7.

You need to remove the Hub.. which can be a PITA if your are up north.. it was somewhat of a pita and I live in the deep south.. so I had minimal rust...

8. Remove the brake caliper assembly and caliper bracket..hang them by something so the brake line does not stretch.
9. Take dust cap, Kotter pin, 12 sided lock washer nut, lock washer out
10. Remove the axle nut using 30mm impact wrench if you have it.. if not improvise.
11. Remove outer bearing - Now you should hopefully be able to remove the outer bearing without much fuss..but left side driver one of mine was a BIG PITA pulling out and putting in
12. You should then be able to take the rotor and hub out
13. Separate the rotor from the HUB. This is the fun part. I used a big crow bar between the rotor and hub to wedge the hut from the rotor out. It took some time (10 min or so in not so rusty south) to take it out.

14. Clean all the old grease from the hub..
-- I did not take out the inner bearing seal cause it was in good condition.
-- Inspect your outer bearing/races for any wear marks and inner bearing/races from the outside..
-- repack it with new grease. Repack your outer bearing with grease \
-- Inspect your axle spindle for any abnormal wear patterns, excessive heat marks etc.

***This is the time if any of the bearings/races, bearing seal, axle spindle are bad.. they need to be replaced..

15. Install the hub back on the rotor...
16. Put on the hub back on the axle spindle (rock the hub-rotor left and right to sit it on the axel properly) You should be able to see the 30mm axle threads..
17. Slide in the outer bearing into the hub, slide the lock washer and then the Axle nut (torque this properly if not you can burn your bearings up), put on the 12 sides lock nut, kotter pin, and dust cap. Clean your rotor now.
18. Follow steps 5-7 to get the brakes pads and caliper on.
19. Put on your tires and torque them to 97 lb/ft for Alloy wheels, 130 lb/ft (iirc) for steel wheels.
20. Check your brake fluid...pump your brakes before you go out for a test drive. ----The first 1-2 times you drive will see some smoke as the oil off the rotor is being burned off..

Finally, enjoy your work..
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Other useful information - The FSM - Search for Toyota T100 FSM to download it.. All of this will be in this document. Here's the link where you can download but not sure if it will be up for when you will get to this... https://procarmanuals.com/pdf-online-toyota-t100-1996-factory-service-manual/

Caliper assembly nuts = 17mm x2 (90 lb/ft)
Caliper brackets nuts = 14mm x2 (27 lb/ft)
Hub to Rotor bolts = 14mm x6 (47 lb/ft)
Axle nut = 30mm (35 lb/ft pre torque.. then rotate the wheel/hub manually a few times.. loosen nut and hand tighten it.. and using a fish scale see if you are able to pull the hub within 3.1lb/ft.. Which is almost nothing.. but I was able to do this with trial and exercise - see the detail instructions in the link here - https://www.tundras.com/threads/t100-front-rotor-change.6203/#post-89247)

 

Hey, thanks for the detailed post. I did pads/rotors on my 97’ T100 DLX yesterday. Hub was almost impossible to separate from the old rotor, but got it after prying it off on the work bench.

If anyone has the 2WD, follow these instructions as a couple of videos I saw were for the 4WD and are somewhat different.


Thanks dude!