How much brake pedal freeplay do you have?

How much brake pedal free play do you have?

I just got my Certified '09 a few weeks ago and have been noticing that the brake pedal had a lot more free play than my '03 S-10.

Automatic, SR5, TRD idling in the garage in Park:

When measured with a yard stick on the sloped foot well behind the pedal there is a full 2" of free play from rest to the beginning of a firm resistance when depressed.

Is this typical?

TIA

Whit

 

I get about 1-1 1/2 inch before they start grabbing and the lights light up. They are way touchier than my '01 S10 brakes which moves about 2-3 before grabbing and lighting up the tails.

 

I've never noticed any play in mine. But my last truck was a cummins so that's not saying much.

 

I pretty sure it can be tightened.

My 98 gets loose and I have it tightened up.

 

every vehicle is different.
different power boosters, abs modules, etc.

Shut it down and pump the brakes like 20 times. should turn rock hard.
Shouldn't have more than a couple of inches of free play then. Might need a cla of the rear brakes ( clean, lube and adjust) I adjust all my vehicles with drum brakes at every rotation. Even my new truck needed it at 500 miles.
Makes a big difference in pedal feel.

 

See page 3.
http://www.customtacos.com/tech/fil...6toyrm/06toypdf/06rmsrc/rm2006ta/04200410.pdf

3. INSPECT PEDAL FREE PLAY
(a) Stop the engine and depress the brake pedal
several times until there is no more vacuum left in
the booster.
(b) Push in the pedal until the beginning of the
resistance is felt. Measure the distance as shown.
Pedal free play:
1 to 6 mm (0.04 to 0.24 in.)

 

Does anyone know if the Taco's drum brakes have the Self-Adjusting mechanism the old Bendix-Wagner ones did? This was usually activated by repeatedly stabbing the brake pedal while rolling backwards. This ratcheted a star wheel on the adjusting nut/rod to expand the shoes. Don't see anything in the Owner's Manual. I'm beginning to think that even with only 11,000 miles on the truck the shoes might need adjusting if possible...this is my first Toyota product.

I was just looking and didn't see an elongated rubber plug that usually reveals access to adjusting the 'star' wheel with a brake adjusting tool like in the old days. Did see a couple smaller round plugs...are they the key?

KenLyns - Thanks for .pdf's on brake linkage, I saved them.
Might you have another that would describe the shoe adjustment process, if there is one?

Thanks all,

Whit

 

I don't know what kind of mechanism it uses, but yes the Taco's rear brakes are self adjusting as you describe

 

Yes, it uses the little geared wheel that is suppose to adjust with e-brake use while parking; but it doesn't. I manually adjust mine every once in a while. There is a small rubber plug on the back of the drum you can remove and use a flat head screw driver. I forget which way you push up on the wheel, I usually have to take my drums off so I can remember lol. Adjust them until there is just a little drag on the wheel.

 

Yes you are correct, all modern drumbrakes are self adjusting and it was first created by Bendix. I'm not sure if it is Patented to them but I call it a Bendix

 

The entire FSM is here: http://www.customtacos.com/tech/files/05FSM/repair.html

Note it's for an 2005/2006. The electronic portion of the brake system is different for 2009+ trucks. I wouldn't use the manual for bleeding the brakes, for example. Mechanical bits like adjusting the drums should be the same.

 

BTDT, thanks. I plodded through all the 'brake-like' subjects and didn't find any of them to be applicable, also found a bunch of:
Not Found

The requested URL /tech/files/05FSM/data/ileaf/06toyrm/06toypdf/06rmsrc/rm2006ta/042010-1000N_S0014_728C9_T00C0_74_74.pdf was not found on this server.


on the few that sounded like they might apply.


I'd forgotten some of the 'self-adjusting' systems also sometimes used the e-brake to do the job, but like MXPatriot, they didn't do the job in my Taco either. I imagine they just want you to take it to the dealer.



When the wx warms up I'll just pull a drum and see what they're doing in there.


Thanks again all.


Whit

 

While doing some more snooping via Google I found the following which seems the most apropos of the all the postings and offers a few clues.

Many of the postings agree that the operation of the Taco's 'automatic adjusting' feature is a bit underwhelming.

http://www.justanswer.com/uploads/skyvisions/2008-11-03_194021_05_taco.pdf

or

http://tinyurl.com/7mm9cz6

Whit

 

This might sound odd. I adjust my drum brakes by driving backwards (safe speed) and brake to a stop several times.

That's how I did it with my 97 S-10

 

That's not odd.

That has been the standard procedure for cars with self adjusting drums since the late 50's

 

I don't mean to sound all that anal about all the brake pedal freeplay, but I'm more comfortable with a shorter stroke.

Anyway this morning I dove into expanding the shoes in the rear drums.
After removing the elongated rubber plugs from the drum backing plates I could make a blind try at adjusting the star wheel which would expand the shoes. This access was easy enough but any adjustment of the star wheel by coming through the back side seemed kind of hit or miss. Just couldn't define the notches/serrations by feel well enough so I put the plug back in.

I then removed the wheels and drum to be able to 'see' what I was doing from the outside.
The drums were resisting removal so I used the threaded holes Toyota thoughtfully installed to get them off. Just put a pair of >1" M8 x 1.25 mm bolts into those threaded holes and screw them into the drum. The ends of these bolts engage the axle flange and 'push' the drums off towards you as illustrated below.

This revealed a good look at the adjustment mechanism I was seeking.
After slipping a flat-bladed screwdriver in between the automatic self adjusting lever and star wheel, the star wheel can be rotated with another flat-bladed screwdriver. (The second screwdriver is not shown below as it would block view of star wheel). I rotated the top of the star wheel away from me about five notches for an initial test. I would estimate this rotates the star wheel about 45 degrees.

After reassembly, and with truck in neutral, I could not detect any shoe dragging feel or sound. I now have just over 1" of pedal freeplay instead of the 2" play I had before. So far so good, we'll try this for awhile.

Whit