Steve's '94 Toyota x-cab mild build

[sixstringsteve]

Thanks Seth. I just bought a pressure bleeder last week, and that's what I used. Only I used it at the caliper end, not the mc. I assumed it'd bleed the mc as well.

 

[81yotalove]

your truck is looking awesome steve! im kinda jealous lol. anyways i would definitely bench bleed the mc. i have your 1inch bore v6 master in my truck with disk brakes in rear and it stops great. my theory with the 79-95 brakes is the rear drum suck mainly because of the loadsensing valve. which makes the front brakes work even harder. i would recommend taking that off and getting an adjustable one so you send more power to the rear drums or some have made a deal to tune the load sensing valve. just my thoughts hope it helps.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Yeah, I had this MC in my tacoma, and it worked just fine. Granted, I was running stock taco front calipers, which are smaller than my current tundra calipers. But still... I'm hoping it's just air trapped in my MC.


I had a manual adjusting prop valve in my '81. I'll go that route if I can't get the stock prop valve to work. I really like the idea of a stock working prop valve. I'll mess around with it a bit more and see if I can dial it in.

Anyone know if I can bench bleed my master while it's still attached to the booster? Will the pedal stroke get enough of the air out, or do I have to do it on my bench in a vise? I also heard that if you're pushing the plunger too far you can blow seals. So I'm hoping I can keep it hooked to the booster and just remove the hardlines there.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Hopefully this info helps us diagnose the problem:

I have never removed the MC from the vehicle. Brakes were perfect before I started working on this truck. Through the process of pulling the axles, all the brake fluid dripped out of the brake lines, and left the reservoir dry. To the best of my understanding, the MC should still be full of fluid inside the cylinder, correct? So I would assume that the MC doesn't need to be bench bled.

 

[pELYgroso]

Steve, I don't know if this helps, but......

I had the same scenario w/ the thrasher and the 'runner. I rebuilt/replaced the axles and all of the fluid drained out of the lines. I just bled them like you normally would, having someone pump while you open and close the bleeder valve, re-filling the res after each corner, and they bled fine.

I have the FJ rotors and V6 calipers in my 'runner and it stops awesome! I don't think I'd need any more stopping power than what I've got! it'll hold me in place just fine on a really steep decline.

 

[sixstringsteve]

The calipers/cylinders should maintain their purge since they are fully bled and you are disconnecting the upstream supply that will be air free.

I am a huge fan of gravity bleeding, crack all 4 bleeders and let her run while keeping the MC topped.

Ok, question. I think i'm missing something here.

when I pull my MC off, I will remove the hardlines. Then I'll bench bleed my MC. Then I'll re-attach the hardlines. At that point, haven't I just introduced air back into my hardlines? Granted, it'll only be a tiny bubble, but it's still air, which would require me to re-bleed all 4 calipers.

I'm curious how the calipers/cylinders will still maintain their purge.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Ok, in my research I found that the stock tacoma 1" MC seems to work fine with tundra calipers. So i'm going to try bench-bleeding my MC, then re-bleeding all 4 calipers. If that doesn't work, then I'll be ordering a new t-100 MC.

 

[81yotalove]

Weird your having such an issue with this whole brake bleeding. I would try to do it the two person way, one person pumps pedal till hard and holds, other person cracks line and shut it before the fluid stops coming out of line. Start at driver rear, passenger rear, passenger front, driver front. I have had to bleed my brakes 3 times in my 81 used this method everytime with great results. Only bench bleed the mc that was brand new. Try this way and see what happens. I hope it works new mc isn't cheap.

 

[Marsh99]

When I had this problem I had my caliper on the wrong sides so the bleeders were on the bottom not the top

 

[sixstringsteve]

When I had this problem I had my caliper on the wrong sides so the bleeders were on the bottom not the top

Brandon, you rock. That's probably my problem. The calipers have an "L" on one and a "R" on the other. I assumed "R" was the passenger side, but I guess I was wrong. The bleeder is definitely on the bottom of the caliper. I sure hope that solves my issue.

 

[SAMI]

^ I've encountered that same issue. Bleeder on bottom rather than on top; good place to check.

 

[sixstringsteve]

that's gotta be it then. I'll keep my fingers crossed. That would be a 20 min job now instead of a 2 hour job. Thanks guys.

 

[Corban_White]

Yep. If the bleeder is on the bottom you will never get all the air out.

 

[lewis]

Learning is hard sometimes! I learned that lesson once too!

 

[sixstringsteve]

This is one of the easier lessons I've had to learn

Thanks for the tips everyone, I never would have thought to check the calipers. It would have been a wild goose chase. I can guarantee I've learned this lesson now.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Brandon, I owe you dinner for diagnosing the problem (and I owe a granola bar to everyone else who offered great suggestions.) It was the backwards calipers that weee Causing my issue.

A huge thanks to James and maddie for helping me bleed my brakes tonight, I couldn't have done it without you two. We swapped the calipers, bled the brakes, and have it a rough alignment. I took it for a spin around the block, and the brakes work awesome, even with just the 1" mc.

THanks again everyone for all the troubleshooting help. I love this site.

 

[Marsh99]

No problem... I need you to get it done so we can go to moab

 

[sixstringsteve]

today I'll be breaking in the ring and pinion, then it'll be drivable for a week or so 'till I tear into the t-cases.


here's my to-do list before the RME BBQ:

4.7's in top-shift
turn forward shift case into a crawl box
install cases/twin stick
drivelines
wire elockers
sliders/bumpers
rear shocks
re-mount rear shackle hangers

 

[TJDukit]

This thing is looking awesome Steve.

Luckily you've got plenty of time to get it done and make sure it's good to go.

 

[sixstringsteve]

thanks.

hopefully I can get it all done before the trip, sneak in a quick maiden voyage out to snakes, then head off to moab.