(As seen in May/June issue of Toyota Trails)

Land Cruisers are the most bombproof, reliable, well engineered vehicles ever produced. However, the one thing that every model of Land Cruiser I have ever owned or driven has lacked is sufficient brakes. This could be because most of the rigs I own or have owned are highly modified with lots of extra weight added (fridge, dual batteries, winch, oversized tires, roof tent, etc.). It all adds up and puts additional stress on the stock brake components.

I recently sold my 80 series and replaced it with a 100 series and once I got it home, I tore it all apart. The truck itself was in amazing shape and was very well cared for but the one thing that needed immediate attention were the brakes. It appeared the rotors had been turned several times and the pads were almost to the metal.

I have used DBA drilled and slotted rotors on my 60 series and our 80 series race truck with excellent results. Some folks claim that drilled and slotted rotors are prone to cracking and such but I strongly disagree. I think that if this were the case, high end auto manufacturers such as Porsche, Mercedes and Ferrari wouldn't use them on their $100,000 sports cars! Yes, I am sure that there are some manufacturers cutting corners and selling inferior units that may crack, but DBA has been around a long time and in all of the research I have done, I have not found a single instance of a DBA rotor cracking or failing and that is good enough for me!

DBA's live up to their reputation and perform perfectly in the harshest of conditions. I called Steve at Man-A-Fre and he had the 4000 Series XS in stock and ready to ship with a wide selection of pads. I chose the Metal Masters from PBR, as I have had great results with them in the past. Two days after I ordered them, they were on my doorstep, thanks to the guys at Man-A-Fre. My 100 series will be built for long distance, self sufficient travel and will have an estimated 1,500 lbs of extra "goodies" on board. I need the best brakes I can buy!

The front rotors on almost all Land Cruiser models are designed in such a way that the entire hub assembly needs to be removed from the truck to remove the rotor. This is a good excuse/reason to do the wheel bearings and such while it's all apart. For work such as this, I highly recommend the purchase of a Factory Service Manual (FSM).

Disassembly (rear)

• Make sure that the parking brake is off, remove the two 17 mm bolts on the back of the caliper, remove the caliper from the rotor and securely fasten it out of the way, being extra careful not to stretch the brake lines.
• If the rotor does not slide off freely (it rarely does), there are two threaded holes for 12 mm bolts that thread through the rotor and come in contact with the backing plate, causing the rotor to come off.
• Be sure to thread the bolts in evenly to ensure that the rotor comes off straight

Disassembly (front)

• Remove the 17 mm caliper bolts.

• Securely fasten the caliper out of the way, being extra careful not to stretch the brake lines.

• Remove the round dust cover from the hub assembly.

• Remove the c clip at the end of axle shaft (be careful, there will be a lot of tension on this). Note: the 100 series uses many different sizes of snap rings (80s do not) and this sets the axle depth, so if you are replacing the snap ring, make sure it's the same size.

• Loosen (but don't remove) the six 14 mm nuts on the drive flange.

• Gently tap the hub studs with a brass drift to un seat the cone washers. Do not use anything other than brass, as it will damage the threads of the stud.

• Remove the drive flange.
• Before removing the outer lock nut, you must fold the tabs flats on the lock washer.
• Remove the outer lock nut with a Toyota SST hub socket (or equivalent).

• Using your SST socket, remove the outer hub sockets and lock ring and remove the rotor/hub assembly.
• Remove the inner lock nut with a Toyota SST hub socket (or equivalent).
• Slide the rotor/hub assembly off of the spindle
• Be sure to keep the driver side and passenger side parts separate and labeled.

5 of my 20 wheel studs sheared completely off when I tried to loosen them and had apparently been put on by King Kong himself! I decided to err on the side of caution and replaced all 20 wheel studs while I had everything apart, if for nothing else than peace of mind, knowing that they weren't over tightened and weakened. The rears are easier and come out nicely with a 3 lb hand sledge (be careful not to strike and distort the flange). The new studs are easily installed as well, by putting some large washers between the lug nut and the flange and torquing them to spec—they seat perfectly. The fronts are a different story because the rotor sits behind the hub, so the studs cannot be knocked out with a hammer while on the vehicle. The front studs are best done by a shop that has the proper tools. San Diego Trux (a local to me Land Cruiser guru) had helped us out with our Baja 1000 truck and his work was first class. They made short work of the stud replacement and I was in and out of there in less then 45 minutes! Thanks, San Diego Trux!

Since my truck had low miles, I decided to inspect the wheel bearings before replacing them and they looked perfectly fine with no signs of scoring, so I just cleaned and repacked them.

Now with everything disassembled and completely cleaned, it was time for the re assembly process. When installing the rotor onto the hub, it is very important to make sure that the mounting surface is 100% clean and that there is no debris between the rotor and the hub or it will never sit correctly. Torque specs and bearing assembly numbers and procedures vary slightly from year to year, so check your FSM.

Re assembly (front)

• Clean the new rotor surface with a good brake cleaner to remove any oils that were applied at the factory to prevent corrosion.

• Make sure the mounting surface of the hub is free of dirt and debris before mounting the rotor.

• Reinstall the rotor to the hub via the five bolts in the back, torquing to the proper spec in your FSM.

• After installing the rotor to the hub, install the newly cleaned and repacked inner wheel bearing.

• Reinstall the new or freshly repacked inner wheel bearing.
• Install the new inner bearing oil seal with a soft faced hammer—be careful, these seals are very expensive and damage easily.

• Clean the spindle on the truck.
• Slide the hub and rotor with inner bearing installed onto the spindle.
• Slide the newly cleaned and repacked outer wheel bearing into the hub and onto the spindle.
• Follow the wheel bearing tightening and testing procedures in your FSM (it varies from year to year).
• Check the wheel bearing load with a fish scale.
• Once fully assembled, be sure to check the bearing load with the fish scale per the FSM.

  

• Reinstall the drive flange.
• Reinstall the C clip.
• Reinstall the dust cap.
• Reinstall the caliper with new pads.

  Re assembly (rear)

   

• Slide the rotor onto the rear flange and adjust the parking brake shoes for a snug but not forced fit. After sliding the rotors onto the axle, adjust the parking brake cable for a snug fit (but not rubbing).

  

• Separate the caliper front mount doing this on the truck makes for easier pad replacement. Install the new pads.

• Re install the caliper.

  

• Reinstall the caliper with new pads onto the mount—note that the inner piston may need to be compressed slightly to fit over the new pads (do not use the new pads to compress the piston).

  That's it. Following these procedures and the FSM, you'll have Land Cruiser worthy stopping power in no time.