Time for some Maintenance

65K miles, time for some maintenance.

Going to change the brake fluid and the front and rear pads. Rotors are in great shape and I have zero pulsing, so just a light degauzing/scuffing and new pads. I have one of those power fluid flush tools, is fantastic and fast. Just fill the container, attach the feeder hose to the top of the brake fluid reservoir, pump up the pressure, then crack each bleeder till fluid runs clean. 20 minutes is usually what it takes.

I decided to go with the Napa Adaptive one Truck pads seem a good alternative to EBC, and Hawk (my usual go to) seem to be going down hill these days. But man, so many choices....

Also changing the oil, 5W30 Penzoil Platinum and Wix XP Filter. I have only run the Toyota filter thus far, and thought I had one in inventory, but no mas. Wix (or Napa Gold) is my non OEM go to. Currently running Mobil 1 and not thrilled with it. Motor sounds more rattley the last 1K miles. Bought it on sale, and 10 Quarts is a chunka $$. Hard to believe I've put 7500 miles on the Truck since Thanksgiving..........

I'll give the rest of the truck a going over and change the cabin filter (going on 5 years).

I'm still thinking of adding a catch can on the front PCV connection, but not sure it will be meaningful at 75K.

 

Get the catch can for sure...only will help. NAPA pad you list are the same with different "stickers" and you should be good...my brakes at 74k need rotors...you're lucky! Mobile1 5w30 at 5k intervals works...literally anything past that, you do get a louder running engine. Liquid Moly 5w30 has been glorious for me...used it on accident and I'm going to switch for good. Fuel filter? Spark plug examination? Belts? What else can you check?!

 

Diff oil if not a regular item for you. They took it out of the manual for a bit.

 

Catch can is pointless unless you’re running a forced induction application. This isn’t a direct injection motor like GM uses that actually benefits from the catch can.

 

Maintenance is done. I fixed my first post, is 65K. I was at 7500 miles on this oil change, got my #'s crossed.

Total time from driving in the bay and out was 3.5 hours. Did the oil change, and brakes for all 4 wheels. BLUF: Fronts were SUPER easy, the rears less so with all the stupid clips and a frozen/stuck caliper bolt that took a 2 foot breaker bar and whacks with hammer.

Pads still had life in them, but I had the time, and now I don't have to worry. Some pics and commentary.

Front pads were fine, but outer pads showed more wear than inner. This was a surprise, as it is a 4 piston non sliding setup.


I was wondering how to compress all 4 pistons, and did the following.
1. Channel locks to press the outer pads away from the disk.
2. Long screwdriver to pry pistons back all the way
3. Insert socket extension between pads and rotor so they diddnt extend when I did the inner pistons.
4. Repeat on the inner.
I used brake cleaner liberally to get it all clean, then Ballistol (rubber safe) on the pins to encourage easy removal. Worked like a trick. Caliper grease on new pins, back of pads, and siding edges of the pads, and all slid together nicely.

The Napa pads had a shim already glued to the pad, so none of the OEM double shim nonsense. Definitely a high quality product, and will use again, and on other cars if they perform well.



The rear pads were the same, with the inner being more worn than outer, and interestingly, wear was not even. Hard to tell in the pics, but it looked like the caliper was not square to the rotor, or caliper was not sliding equally. The slide bolt/pins had factory lube and looked corrosion free, but I cleaned them shoved some grease in the hole, and greased them well. Rears went together without issue, though NAPA provided two different types of sides/clips which took a while to figure out.





The NAPA Adaptive ONE pads are VERY well made, and exude quality, meaty pad, and thicker backer plate, and high quality finish with some type of synthetic backing plate. Supposedly have kevlar pulp in the pads. Were about $125 for the full set front and rear. The pads are supposed to have different compounds for inner and outer, and will be interesting to see how these hold up. They are also supposed to be low dust.

I had very little to no pulsing, so I kept the OEM rotors. I normally do new rotors every other pad change anyway. The hardest part of the job was getting the tires on and off the truck. These Wildpeaks are f#$king HEAVY........ As I always do, I cleaned up the flanges for the rim and wiped a small amount of caliper grease over the flange, and cleaned up the inner flange of the rims wiping with a WD40 soaked rag. This really helps over time, and keeps the corrosion down. I keep cars 10-15 years and cleaning and lubricating along the way really helps. I also hit all the exposed nuts and bolts with some Kroil.

NOW, the REVIEW OF THE PADS....... I can say there was an immediate improvement in bite. Very grabby and balanced feel, so much so, that I was surprised. Even got the ABS to engage. I highly recommend the NAPA pads. Very well made, tapered edges on the leading edge of the pads, and nice wide open center area and slot to help with cooling. I was initially concerned about less braking area due to the tapers, but the pads are very grabby and a BIG improvement over the OEMs.

At 75K this summer, I will change the diff and transfer case fluids, and likely change the plugs, but I pulled a plug and it looked almost new, so may wait till 100K. This continues to be one of the best and my favorite vehicle of all time.

 

One interesting note. A guy I work with was also at the shop (Military Auto Craft Shop). He is a FORD guy, and came over. As the truck was up on the lift and high for the oil change he walked under the truck, and commented on the size of the pumpkin, trans case, brakes, and hubs front and rear. "Is that a 1 Ton?" he asked with amazement.

This was his first time seeing the running gear of a Tundra and he was impressed. I walked over to his F150 on the lift and we compared. NO comparison. Looked like car running gear. Small sedan sized hubs front and rear, small rear axle and pumpkin, skinny rotors and small calipers (fronts were the almost same size of the Tundra rears).

I told him this was one of the reasons I went for the Tundra, is clearly way overbuilt, and even though the Ford is boxed front to rear, the Tundra frame looked beefier, with more and stronger looking cross members. He is a generational Ford Guy, has 4 Mustangs, and a Truck, but did admit he recently traded his Wife's Explorer for a Subaru Ascent...... Maybe hope for him! ;-)