Anyone know what this lever is on the differential

[Sunnynshare]

It appears to be crooked and fixed once before (not asking about the tow strap). Thanks.

[Dolphinite no longer here]

It appears to be crooked and fixed once before (not asking about the tow strap). Thanks.

I think its the automatic load sensor for the rear brakes. Toyota puts these on trucks to automatically provide more braking power for the rear wheels when the truck is heavily loaded. Since a Toyota truck with a house on the back is always heavily loaded, this device is providing the most breaking power available for the rear axle of your Toyhome if its working properly. Or something like that...

Also its adjustable if you don't like the way the brakes work now. A repair manual for a Toyota pickup of your vintage year will tell you about it. You can get the manuals at most auto parts stores.

John

[bufbooth]

It looks like the brake load sensor to me also. The way they are supposed to work is as more weight gets

put in the pickup truck bed the closer the bed gets to the axle, and when this happens the device allows

more break fuild to go to the rear brakes. For example, with the bed empty the device might only allow

50% of the brake fuild to go to the rear brakes, the reason for this is to stop the rear brakes from locking

up and causing the rear end to fishtail/spin sideways. So, as more and more weight gets put on the rear

axle, the device provides more fuild, but not enough to cause the rear brakes to lock up, but enough to

provide more braking power.

From what I understand is that since our Toyotas are at max weight and the addition of more leaf springs

and rear air bags, that our axle to bed space rarely changes, and as a result that these devices might

be thinking it is operating under a light load instead of a heavy load. This was the case with my Toyota,

I had poor rear braking power and tighting the rear brakes up any more would cause them to drag.

I ended up adjusting the device to the max (adjustor nut) and could immediately tell the difference.

I read that some folks have totally removed them or detached the arm from the axle and wired it to the

bed in order to provide max fuild.

With all of this being said, you do not want to do anything to break the system or to cause over braking

to occur. A good brake shop will have pressure sensors to determine what the braking power that each

wheel has and will know what the braking power should be (calculated by weight) and they can make

the adjustments for you and immediately test the results.

Dennis...

[Sunnynshare]

It looks like the brake load sensor to me also. The way they are supposed to work is as more weight gets

put in the pickup truck bed the closer the bed gets to the axle, and when this happens the device allows

more break fuild to go to the rear brakes.

That explains why it's mechanically attached to the brake line. It's kinda like a load sensitive proportioning valve (if there is such a thing). Thanks for the info. Kim

[centralman]

I ended up adjusting the device to the max (adjustor nut) and could immediately tell the difference.

I read that some folks have totally removed them or detached the arm from the axle and wired it to the

bed in order to provide max fuild.

Hi there, would you be willing to share how to adjust the device please? Thank you.

[Derek up North]

This should give you an idea:-

http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/1993/brakesystem/12loadsens.pdf

[Sunnynshare]

This should give you an idea:-

http://www.ncttora.c.../12loadsens.pdf

While I appreciate the link, given that one needs scales and gauges that go to 1,200 psi, this common person cannot use that pdf. This seems to be one of those things that has a common way of approaching. Anyone know the concise way a person should adjust this assuming it has about the most allowable vehicle weight? It's a nice idea but I would rather have it set for the heavy load (permanently if possible) and adjust my driving (and braking) when the truck is empty. Thanks, Kim.

[centralman]

This should give you an idea:-

http://www.ncttora.c.../12loadsens.pdf

Thanks for your info. May I ask does this apply to 1987 22RE specifically? May sound like a stupid question but wanted to make sure, thanks again.

I think Kim's idea is great too if there's an easier way to approach this.

Edited July 29, 2010 by centralman

[Derek up North]

Kim, unless you're converting a rotten MH into a flat-bed, these are ALWAYS fully loaded compared to a standard pick-up truck!

All you've really got to do is look at the illustration at the top of the Pdf to see the components. You want to adjust 'Shackle #1' relative to 'Shackle #2', so that the load sensing valve is fully open. As you can imagine, if you happened to really beef up the rear springs so that the ride deight was similar to that of an empty pickup, the 'dumb' links and pivots would 'think' that you're driving an empty pick-up and send minimal braking effort to the rear brakes, even though you've actually got the equivalent of a 3500lb load back there.