Rear brake problems

i have a 95.5 ex cab.
I have very little rear braking, 127k and the rear shoes are only warn about 50%. I would like to install a different
proportioning valve or adjust the one that's there better.

 

No, that is not a problem. My 96 had 120,000 miles on it and hardly show any wear. You're fine.

 

You might need to clean & adjust them if you have little rear braking power...but why the hell would you replace something when its 50% worn?

 

I don't remember if our trucks use an adjustment screw, but those like to get gummed up and stop expanding to adjust for shoe wear. Either way, clean everything and use 3m caliper guide pin lube on the screw and anchor points.
Don't change the valve. Locking rear brakes are BAD

 

You can adjust the arm that comes out of the BPV in the upward direction to slightly increase the rear braking. Be aware that doing so reduces front braking by an equal amount. Consider a small adjustment (1/4") to start, to see how it feels. A 1/2" adjustment will significantly impact the braking balance and could cause your rear tires to lock up before your fronts, under hard braking.

 

That's an option to consider after you rule out the brakes themselves being the problem.

 

My 95.5 Tacoma dose not have ABS Brakes.
The rear brakes are adjusted to the point that they drag just a little.
On hard braking the front discs lock up and leave flat spots on the front tires. The rear tires never leave skid marks. someone has adjusted the shackle length about 1/2" shorter ( Dealer ?), but this hasn't helped .I read that rock climbers tend to remove the stock Proportioning valve and
install an adjustable proportioning valve, so they can get more pressure to the rear brakes. Haven't been able to find a wright up on this mod, anyone find info on this mod?
The original Toyota Pads went 18,000 Miles, the Auto zone pads go about 3500 miles.

 

Hope that is a typo. If you only get 1,800 miles out of a set of toyota front brake pads, you got bigger issues going on than braking proportioning.

 

This is normal for the rear brakes on a truck. Just had to replace mine at 200,000. Trucks dont use alot of braking power in the rear since there is no weight back there usually.

 

All good info other then the arm direction...

You adjust it up for more braking. The design is to push the arm up for more rear brake bias when the bed is loaded. You can remove the arm from the axle and strap it to the bottom of the bed for full rear bias to play around with the extreems and then adjust it to your tase. Just be fore warned that an unloaded pick up will lock the rear fast in slick conditions. This can cause loss of control and Toyota has spent lots of engineeering dollars for design safety. Once you go tampering with it you are out on a limb.

 

Can you guys confirm that the rear brake adjusters get turned clockwise if you are looking at the truck from rear to front?

Flash

 

They both turn opposite each other. The easiest way to figure out which way they move is to remove the drum.

 

So Right rear turns up and left rear turns down?

Flash

 

Opps! You are correct Sirs! Thanks for catching that. I've corrected the info in post #6

 

I don't remember. That's why I suggested pulling the drums. The adjusters are probably frozen and need cleaned and lubed. You don't have to dissassemble the whole assy. Just pry out the adjuster.

 

Usually when you go to adjust them with a brake spoon, they will turn one direction fairly easy and the other direction is hard to turn them. The direction that they turn easy is the direction that adjust them up correctly. Pretty simple.