Texasroadrunner
Club Member
I've had Toyota Forerunner calipers and solid front discs and Lexus rear calipers for 2 years and have not been all that happy with the braking performance. I finally decided to jump in and install Wilwood 12" vented/slotted/dimpled rotors with their 6 piston calipers to make things better. My first challenge was the previous owner had mounted the calipers with SAE 1/2-20 bolts instead of M12x1.25. These bolts measure and look exactly the same. But the pitch is just a small amount off. The 1/2-20 has a pitch of .050" per thread. The M12x1.25 has a pitch of .049" per thread. Install the 1/2" bolt and it will go in for a bit but then start to gaul. Previous owner torqued them in tight and thought things were fine. I came along and put my 10mm hex key in the socket head bolt with a piece of pipe and had no luck removing the top one. The bottom one did crack loose. I had to get a 1/2"drive impact 10mm hex socket and use a long breaker bar plus a 2 ft long piece of pipe and lean hard on it for it to finally crack loose and back out. I really worried that the bolt head would break off with what I think was about 350 lbs of torque. I then tapped the holes clean, and they are now able to take the correct M12x1.25 hex head bolts.
I now have the Wilwood calipers and rotors mounted and am figuring out the best way to connect the braided stainless brake hoses so they won't ever hit the tires or wheel well. Last surprise was the Wilwood bleed screws. It seems they forgot to drill the bleed fitting all the way through so bleeding would be impossible. I've read that others had this problem too. Luckily, I bought some Russel R40525 speed bleeders. to replace them anyway. What fun it would have been to try to bleed brakes that have no holes in the fittings. I pressed in longer studs into the hubs for more lug nut engagement. I look forward to getting them juiced up with new DOT 4 fluid and going out for a test and break in run. Take a look and the before and after photos. The problem 1/2-20" bolt, Toyota calipers, Wilwoods and the speed bleeders.
I now have the Wilwood calipers and rotors mounted and am figuring out the best way to connect the braided stainless brake hoses so they won't ever hit the tires or wheel well. Last surprise was the Wilwood bleed screws. It seems they forgot to drill the bleed fitting all the way through so bleeding would be impossible. I've read that others had this problem too. Luckily, I bought some Russel R40525 speed bleeders. to replace them anyway. What fun it would have been to try to bleed brakes that have no holes in the fittings. I pressed in longer studs into the hubs for more lug nut engagement. I look forward to getting them juiced up with new DOT 4 fluid and going out for a test and break in run. Take a look and the before and after photos. The problem 1/2-20" bolt, Toyota calipers, Wilwoods and the speed bleeders.
Attachments
Last edited:
