Tundra Brakes Installation

With the added weight of camping gear, we decided it would be a good idea to upgrade the brakes on the 4Runner.  After lots of research on YotaTech if found that you could install factory Tundra rotors and calipers directly onto the 4Runner.  The major benefit of the Tundra brakes is the increased heat capacity of the rotors when pulling a trailer or carrying a heavy load.  I don’t know that there is a large difference in in-town breaking performance as there isn’t much of a difference in caliper design between the factory 4Runner and the 2001 Tundra. The piston size is the same, but the brake pads are slightly larger.

You can see the difference in rotor width is substantial

There are two different sizes of calipers that are available, 199mm (S13WE) and 231mm (S13WL). I went with the 199’s as the 231’s require modification to the caliper and factory 16” aluminum wheels.

Here are the parts I used:

  • 1ea: NAPA Premium S13WE Left Caliper
  • 1ea: NAPA Premium S13WE Right Caliper
  • 2ea: NAPA Premium Rotor
  • 1set: NAPA Premium Brake Pads

The easiest thing to do is go into your local NAPA store and ask for the calipers, rotors, and pads for a 2001 Toyota Tundra, and say you want the ones with the WE castings.

3rd Gen Caliper vs. Tundra 199mm Caliper

One trick I found was to use Little 'Red Cap' caulk tube cover to cover the end of the brake line when it was disconnected. They worked well at preventing brake fluid from dripping all over the place.



Here is everything installed! It took me about 1hr per side to complete.