Changing drum brake pads

how simple is changing the rear pads on my 03 taco??

thanks for the help!

 

I haven't done the taco brakes yet but I have done them on my moms suburban. They are a PAIN. Just make sure to do one side at a time so you can see how they go back together. There seems to be a million parts that come flying off of those things lol.

Oh and they're called brake shoes, not pads FYI.

 

Aint that the truth!

 

ok ok SHOES, haha. yeah i did my buddies on his 05 silverado they where a fuckin bitch! great i have to do them cuz there squeakin like a mother!

 

Never did the tacoma rear drums, but I've done many other types.

They can be a pain in the ass if you don't have the proper tools.

Get yourself one of these

 

haha yeah! thats what i need for my buddies drums. we were tryin to get that metal clip thing that holds the 2 together.

 

At least the OP knows it's "Brakes", not "Breaks".

 

yeah, that is an extremely annoying mistake.

edit: there I fixed my first post for you lol

 

OP?

 

Original poster
ie. you

 

i dont have any probs doing rear drum brakes. like others have said do 1 side at a time so you can reference if needed. i tried using brake tools and find 4 the most part simple hand tools get the job done most of the time.

 

xxxx 3 on this and reseach how to use it. no problem!

 

Dont get the tool people have mentioned. It really doesn't work all that great for imports. Imports have a larger spring retainer which that one doesn't work with. I bought one of these from Napa and it ended up being more trouble than it was worth and since it didn't fit the hold down springs, was a complete waste anyway. Also, I think that tool is meant for a double main spring (one for each side), where our Tacoma's only have a single main spring making the tool impractical since you'd have to use the tool against the lining itself.

You do want to get a tool to help take off and put on the retention springs. From Harbor frieght, it is the black one in this pic. Its not a high pressure tool so quality really isn't an issue, but just makes it so much easier to do it. (First time I did it with the wrench that didn't fit, I ended up having to use vice grips to try to hold the cup, compress the spring, and turn... Took forever. 2 sec with the right tool) Most auto places should have it. It makes a frustrating part easy.

The only other challenge is the main spring that keeps the brakes together. I suppose that is what the above mentioned tool is supposed to be for, but I could never figure out how its supposed to work in our brake system. For those brakes with a double main spring, sure, but since we just have a single main spring going from one shoe to the other, the pliers like tool doesn't work. Ended up just using vice grips to lock on to the spring and pull it off/put it on.

The other thing that is a bit of a bitch is if parking brake pin isn't pre-installed, and even more so if your brakes didn't come with the pin and you have to remove the old one. Luckily, mine did come with it, and with a good amount of pounding - be sure to brace the back properly- it gets in place.

Oh, and the last thing, the drums themselves can be a pain to remove. There's lots of tips here on how to remove them, but I ended up having to use the screws to do it. 8mmx1.25 I believe. You need about 1.5-2" in length.

The rest is all pretty simple. Lots of parts, but just take your time and you'll be fine.

Dont forget the brake cleaner and brake grease.

Brief run down...
1. remove wheel and drum
2. remove main spring under adjustor
3. remove hold down springs
4. remove shoes and disconnect parking brake wire
5. clean up everything thats going to be reused. make sure adjustor is clean and re-grease. You may want to adjust it in a bit as well since it is adjusted out for the old shoes.
6. Test parking brake lever and disassemble/remove rust if needed (called a bell crank). Should move freely. If you do disassemble it to clean it up, grease up the rust spots good before putting it back on. I ended up needing to strip and paint it when I did mine. ( )
7. Assemble replacement shoes, moving all the parking brake items over to the new ones. Grease the moving parts in the parking brake stuff.
8. put it back together. Grease the contact points on the plate (3-4 per side-slightly raised). Start with the parking brake side. put the hold down spring in place. put the parking brake cable on. put the bottom spring on, hook up the non-parking brake side, hold down spring. Make sure the adjustor is in the right place. Install the main spring.
9. test to make sure the adjustor works by pushing the parking brake lever back a tiny bit. You'll hear it click when moving back, and spin the adjustor when released.
10. Put the drum back on and adjust the brakes. I usually just manually push the parking brake lever back and forth until it stops making adjustments. Works just as good as doing it using the adjustment hole and a whole lot quicker. (Some people say that slamming on the brakes in reverse adjusts the brakes, but in seeing how the parking brake physically moves the adjustor arm, that seemed like a logical way to do it reliably, quick and wont over adjust.)
11. Repeat with other side.

12. Bleed brakes if you want, but since you didn't open up/mess with the wheel cylinder, probably not necessary. I bled them last time and didn't see any bubbles. Doesn't hurt though.
13. put wheel on and test. Do it with the wheels off the ground first and make sure both the parking brake and foot brake hold the wheels good. Should then be good to try it on the road.

 

I'm a mechanic and I have to say the Tacoma rear brakes are easy compared to a lot of other rear brakes. Like others have said before, do ones side at a time so you can use it as reference. I had a hard time with rear brakes when I first started, theres a lot of springs and small parts. And don't forget to set the drag also.

 

Personally, I wouldn't do them unless you had someone around that knew what they are doing. They are brakes and important, even though about 80% of brake power comes from the front. I have done them on other vehicles and still would have my buddy who is a mechanic look over my shoulder when I do mine. On the other hand, if you don't have a mechanic you can trust, you might as well do them yourself. Lots of crappy mechanics around out there.

 

Pretty much. I've taken mine apart four times now (spring broke, replace shoes and hardware, frozen slave cylinder, etc.) and its pretty simple. It just takes patience.

 

I can't believe nobody's done a step-by-step with pictures write up of this yet. Manlaan, that's the closest I've seen to anybody giving instructions for it, thank you. I'll be trying it later today or tomorrow, went and bought everything today ($160 total for front and rear, including new front rotors). I'll try to take some pictures and post them up.

 

Is it normal for 9 year old shoes to be barely worn? I've had the truck for 4 1/2 years, and I've never had the shoes changed. I replaced the front pads and rotors in fall 06. Spent an hour getting the drums off, and when I compared the old shoes with the brand new ones, they were the same thickness, within about a mm of each other. The drums inside looked fine as well, so I'm going to just leave them on and return the new shoes. I haven't had the fronts off yet, so don't know what they look like.

 

god i have dont my rear shoes yet. i dont wanna fuck something up =/

 

I've used the tool 4 times now (as I said earlier, I've taken apart the brakes that many times) and it takes maybe 1/4 the time it did before when you use it each subsequent time. (aka 1st time it took me like 30 minutes, last time under 40 seconds)

It's totally a practice and patience thing, but you should get used to it.