PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

I got new ones; Would the cost of shipping from Texas to PA be worth it?

 

No more stealerships for this guy!

 

Prob not.

 

I’m not a mechanic and I can tell you all the reasons why a Check Engine Light can come on!

 

And the one thing I feel better about is that I got hundreds of dollars in free parts and labor from this dealer because they fucked up in the first place!

 

I put 300K on my '93 and still had at least half of the original shoes left. Unless you wear a brake shoe all the way down to the metal and drive it like that until it's grooved, your original drums should last a long long time. It's theoretically possible if you overheated the drums then immediately parked with the parking brake on full, it *might* be possible to warp the drums requiring replacement, but that scenario is a long shot. And, btw, they're made out of cast iron, not any variant of steel. Cast iron, just like your skillet.

 

Just like rotors, drums can be turned when replacing shoes. They’ll tell you when you bring them in if they’re worn too much and need replacing. I’m guessing they can be cut two or three times before they need replacing.

Personally, I don’t like to cut them unless they’re grooved. If I don’t cut them, and they look glazed, I’ll rub them with emery cloth.

Yes the braking surface has to be oil free and clean. Shop rags are oily so I use clean paper towels and brake cleaner.
I like to pull the rubber boot back on the slave cylinders, if I find brake fluid in there I replace them.

If you plan to do a drum brake job, do yourself a favor and do one side at a time and/or take pictures so getting all the springs and pieces back in correctly isn’t a guessing game. There are special tools for drum brakes but it is possible without them.

If you have a saturated situation the drums can be cleaned, I’ve seen people clean the shoes but I replace them.

 

Factory drums are painted/coated and it holds up quite well. Cheap aftermarket stuff isn't, so it gets ugly pretty quickly.

You can get decent aftermarket coated stuff as well. The dealership should be using factory parts unless you ask for aftermarket or at the very least you have a discussion about it.

Jeff

 

I authorized the use of aftermarket parts because they would have had my truck for two days if I’d waited for OEM parts to come in. I had no idea they’d be replacing the drums and did not realize they had until like a day after I brought my truck home.

 

I’m fed up with dealerships in every sense...

I worked at a dealership for ten months and I hated it. They take advantage of their employees and their customers. When I worked at the dealership, at the detail shop, I started to feel burnt out within the first three months!

 

Although the parts store that you work for may not carry painted drums, they are available - for a little more money. A quick look online will show you a good number of them. Most folks don't worry about whether or not they're painted because the drums are generally hidden behind the wheels and wheel covers. The style of wheels on most Tacomas does not hide the drums though.

 

So one of my coworkers gave me a $50 Lowe’s gift card. Guess who’s gonna but a second star shower for the house?!?!

 

My dad’s BMW never broke, but shit like oil and brakes cost more than in the 2003 Honda S2000 the BMW replaced, and more than in the 2008 Acura TL that replaced the BMW...

 

I have not replaced a drum on a rear axle since the 80s and most have gone to 200k + miles

 

I bet I spent a good 6 or 7 thousand bucks at Lowe's over the past 6 months, gotta quit, lol.

 

I spent about two grand on Legos over the course of a year...

 

And my favorite meme of the year, again...

 

I remember one time on Mythbusters they built a giant boulder out of Lego's and tried to roll it down a hill, lol.