T.R.D. Tacoma - Developed for Off Road Racing

Me. As I go get the grocery list my wife gave to me.

 

Better keep looking then, this is an ongoing story about a man and his brakes...and the shitposters he finds along the way.

 

OP, after having slept on it. Did you find anything bent or slightly tweaked? I know that you mentioned the cable is fine since the brakes engage as expected but its possible that it got stretched.

 

My night got a little derailed yesterday…



How’s everyone doing?

 

I think, but could be wrong, that if the cable was stretched it would be less likely to bind as it would never fully engage. Still a good point I will consider. You may be right.

I had a good look and cleaned the assembly, but realized I don’t have the tools to properly disassemble things right now. I put the wheels back together and am going to pick up the tools that @RustyGreen recommended so I’m not struggling with pliers etc. Probably watch a bunch of YouTube tutorials and then go back in next weekend.

It’s not a huge problem, and hasn’t left me stranded, but sucks on the rare occasions when it happens. Rocking the truck back and forth, and tanking on the cable, trying to free up the brake and whatnot in the Walmart parking lot is poor form.

I know now it is only on the drivers side this happens, so figure if I could at least compare the sides, I’d spot the difference. Also, I’m the kinda person who NEEDS to know how something works once I start looking at it, so I figure the time has come to learn about drum brakes.

 

If anyone viewing this shitpost thread knows what the bleed situation is on the 3G Tacoma rear (can I avoid having the bleed the brakes when taking them apart?) that would be appreciated.

 

Interesting. My rear drums still haven’t seized, yet.

 

Why put the stickers on about it being developed for racing if it ain’t so? You saying Toyota is lying? Better lawyer up for a libel suit.

 

I honestly think this all goes back to the morons who put my lift on. My mistake was trusting the “lift experts” who I later realized were total hacks. That fuckered my back brakes in the early days. Knowing what I know now, I should have done it myself, or taken the truck to a better shop, but I’ve learned a lot in the last several years.

 

Yeah, my suspension is bone stock so I guess that explains it. How did they fuck up your brakes? Was it that “green lane off-road” on the island by any chance?

 

Normally when you service drum brakes no bleeding will be required, you aren't opening the hydraulic side of the system and the wheel cylinders don't need to be pushed back like a caliper.


You won't do anything to the wheel cylinder except gently pull the boots back and look for leaks and rust.

This is a good example of what you don't want to find under the boots. DO NOT step on the brake pedal with the shoes off (or the drums), it will blow the pistons out of the wheel cylinders.




After you have stripped off most of the parts it will look similar to this except you will have the axle flange in the way and the hand brake cable and lever -- this picture is from an old car with drum front brakes.

Notice the six flat around the perimeter? That is where the shoes ride, they need to be clean and smooth with no grooves or burrs, add a light slick of the brake grease on the flats. The rubber plug at the bottom pops out so you can use the brake spoon to turn the star wheel adjuster.



There is a tool to keep the wheel cylinders together when the brakes are apart, not normally needed for routine service -- just don't step on that pedal when the drums are off.




Although not from rear of your truck the photo below pretty clearly illustrates drum brakes. The 3 springs at the top return the shoes to the resting position. The silver coil springs are the hold downs. The blue spring/arm/star wheel and cable are the self adjuster with the rubber plug for access behind it.

The star wheel sets the clearance between the shoe and drum in the resting position.
Too much clearance results in a low brake pedal and the shoes will wear at the top.
Too little clearance and the brakes will be grabby and lock the rear prematurely.

About the shoes:
Look carefully at the lining material, it is shorter on the shoe on the right side of the photo then that on the left. The short side lining is called the primary shoe and always goes to the front side of the vehicle. This is the passenger side of the car.

Notice each shoe has 3 indentations on the metal edge near the lining? They are places to hook the pin end your brake spring pliers, the hook end goes around the hooks on the springs.

 

This thread is awesome on many levels.

 

No. It wasn’t those guys. I’m DM you the shop so you can avoid it if you are ever over here.

What the initial issue was, is the when you lift the truck, you need (in some cases) to slacken off the parking brake cable or the brakes will actuate when you articulate the rear axle. Toyota designs some purposeful slack into the parking brake system (hence the 7 clicks on the handle when you engage it) to account for the tugging on the brake cables that occurs when you articulate the rear axle.

After my lift, my parking brake would randomly engage whenever a rear wheel dropped into a rut (sometimes at speed). I know now what the issue is, but at the time I thought my diff was blowing up, or my ABS was fucked, or my wheel bearings were seizing, or my traction control was haywire. I learned a lot sorting through the issues to the problem, which is obvious in hindsight, but I was new to modifying Tacomas at the time and trusted in the wrong people to be “experts”. A Toyota mechanic pointed out the issue to me in 5 minutes after an endless run-around at the “lift specialists”. Anyways…….long story short, some shit got a bit bent during these violent wheel lock-ups and it’s never been quite the same. I got a quote from Toyota for replacing everything and it was just more than I wanted to spend at the time.

 

All of this drum brake porn makes me wish we went with the air brake style drums. a mount at the bottom, a hold down and return spring and a rocker at the top to actuate the brakes

 

If I could “sticky” this I would. Thank you for taking the time to type this out. I will use it as a reference when I go back in there.

Well explained. Thanks!

 

If we had air brakes, we could truly call our Tacomas “rigs”

 

I'm too old (and dumb) do any of the computer stuff on modern cars -- stone age tech is the stuff I grew up with -- .

 

I think we all know its marketing. I mean the limited model is not actually limited, the sport model is just a sr5 with a hood scoop, and the offroad cant go offroad without voiding the warranty.

Thats like going to the dodge dealer and expect their challenger hellcat to actually be a satanic feline.

 

Or leading your Mustang water, but you can't make it drink.

 

The truth hurts sometimes.

Just glad I never went to a Ford dealership looking for a Probe.