I totalled my best friend’s car to learn how to do brakes on 1983 Toyota Land Cruiser

4 min readNov 30, 2020

It’s really embarrassing but at the same time we got out of cars laughing. I guess if you know someone 20-something years and you park your truck in their trunk, laughter is what comes out. This and the fact that Martin didn’t know it’s a total loss at that point.

Doesn’t look totalled? Look behind the plastic bumper or ask his insurance

My brakes were steadily deteriorating since I got my Cruiser. It was also raining and I sport these awesome MT tires. I guess pulling 600kg of a trailer behind me didn’t help either. So yes, it was my fault for not leaving a football-field-like distance between us.

How brakes work in an old Cruisers

They don’t. I have drums all around and it’s a fairly large diameter drum at 295mm. But a drum nonetheless. Each front wheel is driven by two brake cylinders when rear is just one per side. Brakes are assisted and pump is a large 1" pump, but it’s still not enough.

After few attempts, which you will see all below, I made it to the point where I can lock all four 32" tires at any speed. Which is also not ideal as you imagine. So no matter which way you go, when it comes to old Cruiser brakes, you loose.

Any why is that?

Drums suck

You went mudding? Drums are now full of mud and if you want to recover, you need to take them apart and clean. “Oh I know, I know! We’ll cross the river and clean brakes.” Wrong again. Now you only have 10% of braking power for the next few minutes while you spin the wet mud inside the drum.

Front drum brake on 1983 Toyota Land Cruiser BJ42

New brake shoes, cylinders, lines, hardware, and drums? Sure you will lock the wheels, but it’s so unpredictable and uneven that you really have to focus when stopping. And it’s not like you’re not immune to water and mud.

And did I mention leaks?

Load Sensing Proportioning Valve (LSPV)

This valve, which is impossible to buy new now, measures the distance from the rear axle to the body, and changes rear brake pressure proportionally.

The idea is that when you load the vehicle the rear will sag a bit and rear brakes should have higher pressure (brake more) to stop.
And conversely, when you brake harder and rear of the car unloads, the distance between the axle and the body increases and you want to have less stopping pawer sent to the read. Otherwise the unloaded rear wheels will lock really easy and you will most likely be sent spining.

My sensor was leaking fluid and letting air in. So no matter how many times I bleed my system, air and dirt always found its way inside. In my experience it should be called Leak Spitting Proportioning Valve but whatever.

The fix

I will be upgrading my brakes to disks one day. I am too cheep to get the conversion kit, so you will see me struggle to DIY brakes for sure.

The temporary fix

For now I’ve gone and replaced:

All brake shoes
Rear brake cylinder
Almost all hard lines, including the long one going from the master cylinder to the front and rear axels
All the drum hardware (springs, pins, adjusters, etc.)
A single-diaphragm brake booster with a double-diaphragm one from 4runner
And I also deleted LSPV

The last one I am especially proud of. I understood how LSPV work, considered all the options including adopting LSPV from another car, and eventually decided to replace it with a lever insider the cabin.

My first ever brake line. And it didn’t leak at the first try, go figure.

I’ve seen people replace it with one mounted next to the master cylinder. However I wanted a way to adjust rear brakes while rolling.

While doing so I had to replace almost all the hard lines. I bought the tools, learnt how to use them, and don’t have a single leak.

The result, as with everything Cruiser, varies. I am definitely able to adjust rear brake power. However, on wet even the lowest valve setting (40% flow) isn’t enough and I lock rears with ease. Should I add another valve in line to get a compound effect?

For now I drive very carefully on wet.

Build log:

Front and rear brake shoes for $74
Brake hardware for $9 (I can’t remember if I changed adjusters now)
Both rear brake cylinders for $7.5 each
I had to get (and learn to use) a flaring tool, brake lines, etc for $42
I flushed the system multiple times with $18 worth of brake fluid
1996 4Runner brake booster (servo) was $65 used and $12 worth of air line
New manual proportioning valve for $60

For a grand total of $295 total. Some tools will stay with me, but it’s still a handsome sum for reviving flawed brakes…