Dragging Brakes, 2001 Tacoma, Tried a lot already...

Rusty Shakelford

Rusty Shakelford

New Member
Vehicle: 2001 Tacoma 2wd, 2.4L

My last set of brake pads only got about 10k miles on them before the wear indicator started screeching. Evidently my brakes had been dragging, not sure for how long. I replaced my front drivers side caliper when I replaced the pads 10k miles ago, and I thought now the passenger side caliper was sticking, so I just replaced it, put in new pads, bled the system, and it still drags. It is just the front wheels that are dragging. It takes two hands to turn the hub. When I take off the caliper it spins freely.
So yesterday I replaced the master cylinder, bled the lines in the proper order and the proportioning valve (rear passenger, rear drivers, front passenger, front drivers, proportioning valve). Still dragging!
Today I did some more troubleshooting. I'm getting flow to the calipers. If I open the bleed valve I get a slow gravity flow. When I flip up the caliper and watch the piston while my helper presses the brake it appears to be working properly. It extends when the brake is pressed and retracts slightly when they let off the brake.
I also tried loosening the master cylinder from the brake booster to see if perhaps the push rod was an issue. I loosened the MC as far as I could without taking the two bolts all the way off, I'd say about 8 mm. Still no bueno. WTF?
Can anyone help me out? My thoughts are bad brake hoses (I ordered two which should be in Wednesday next week just in case). Brake booster? Proportioning valve? I'm tired of throwing parts at this thing. Any help? I'm losing sleep over this thing beating me.

Thanks!
 
OR17TRD said:
What’s happening if only the inner pad wears?
Click to expand...
If only the inner pad wears, the problem is in the guides that allow the caliper to slide side to side. I replaced my caliper guide hardware every 60K and cleaned and lubed it every year. Got 70K out of my OE brakes and still had their replacements on the truck when I sold it.

This also applies if the inner pad is worn more than the outside pad. This means the caliper is slow to slide and release the inner pad from the rotor. Not positive what setup looks like on the OP's truck.
 
Joisey said:
If only the inner pad wears, the problem is in the guides that allow the caliper to slide side to side. I replaced my caliper guide hardware every 60K and cleaned and lubed it every year. Got 70K out of my OE brakes and still had their replacements on the truck when I sold it.

This also applies if the inner pad is worn more than the outside pad. This means the caliper is slow to slide and release the inner pad from the rotor. Not positive what setup looks like on the OP's truck.
Click to expand...

I didn’t know that. I haven’t heard it before. Thank you
 
I can't count the number of people that told me I was wasting my time cleaning and greasing the caliper guide pins/rails. It only takes ten extra minutes to do, and I already had them out to inspect my brakes, which I do on a yearly basis. Change brake fluid every two years, average of 12K/year. These two things do a lot towards preventing brake problems.
 
You would be surprised at the additional brake pad wear caused by the caliper sliding just a little slower than it should. The brakes release a bit later each time you apply them.
 
There are quite similar benefits to cleaning and lubing the contact points on drum brakes. Faster application, more sure release. Ditto for brake hardware after about 60K miles.
 
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