Toyota FJ Cruiser Forum

Ok, I have about 80,000 on the FJ so far and it's getting time to change the brake pads. I've always done this on my Tacoma and other vehicles and it's a fairly simple process. However, I recently bought a repair manual CD and it says to drain the brake fluid before doing the pads (???). Normally, I just take off the caliper, hang it from the wheel with an old coat hanger, change the pads, and reassemble. Does anyone know if there is some pressing reason to drain the brake fluid to change the pads on the FJ that I don't know about??

Thanks in advance for your response.

I think what they want you to do is remove about half of the fluid in the cup and then loosely put the lid on the master cylinder. Then when you compress the calipers to install the new pads you won't overflow the brakes fluid. Remember the cap needs to be loose so air can escape, but screwed on so you don't blow brake fluid all over the engine compartment.

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Please Click for Sarah's Wish

Interesting. I've never done that before. Just used the C clamps and gently tightened the calipers gently.

It all depends on if you added any fluid over the 80,000 miles I guess. I'm a maintenance nut so when I change my oil I top everything off.

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Please Click for Sarah's Wish

I agree with Squid, if the reservoir is filled when the pads are worn and the piston is exposed, when the pistons get compressed the excess fluid will over flow. I've experienced that first hand, makes a mess.

Cool. thanks guys.

So you going to upgrade the rotors too?

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Please Click for Sarah's Wish

Nope, I didn't do the rotors, and ended up not even doing the brake pads! I bought the pads and hardware (springs & pins) to do the brakes this last weekend. Well, I didn't get around to it until Sunday afternoon. I figured I was pretty safe buying the pads up front without inspecting the brakes - after all, I have nearly 80,000 on it, so that pads had to be getting rough. Boy was I wrong.

After pulling the wheel and taking off the caliper, I noticed the pads - and they were in remarkably good shape. I'm talking only about only about 1/16 was gone from the pad - a little more but not much. I took the ruler out because I couldn't believe my eyes. So after seeing that so little was off of the front, I put everything back together and inspected the back wheels (this time I checked BEFORE taking the caliper off :-). The back pads were the same - maybe a hair more off than the fronts, but not much.

Needless to say, I am extremely impressed with how well these brakes are wearing. I'm not exactly a Sunday driver. I would like to hear what others are experiencing with their brakes. I have heard from others that the FJ rear brakes have been wearing out faster than the fronts, which is why I checked mine. The way these things are wearing, I might not have to change my pads until 140,000!

Dam, that is unheard of and says a lot for the brakes being well balanced front to rear not mention first rate pads and rotors. The brakes on my Nissan Titan were so bad I changed both pads and rotors at 40,000 miles

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Please Click for Sarah's Wish

Dam is right. I figured that the pads would atleast need to be replaced.

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08 Voodoo Blue

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