Rear Brake Adjustment Question

Trying to figure out what direction to go here... possibly two problems here?

Brakes have been bled several times, including the proportioning valve. They remain functional but spungy. While investigating the rear brakes I find that the arm adjustment (e-brake) bolt sits ~1/4 inch or more off the backplate when the e brake is off. When I pull on the arm I get significantly more movement than the .4 - .8mm. I assume this means the rear pads are not properly adjusted? Or maybe the bolt needs adjusted? First step, pull the hubs and inspect/adjust the pads?

I just put a OME lift on the truck, would this require an e-brake cable adjustment? This is why bolts don't contact the plate when e-brake is off? Maybe start with pad adjustment? Then go to e-brake after?

I will say the brakes were spungy prior to the lift.

Thanks

 

You need to adjust the shoes up with the drums on.

Some people like having the wheels on as well.

This is one of those by feel adjustments you want a slight drag on the drum . The first few times most people do not get the shoes adjusted tight enough.

If your connections are able to draw in air you will never get all the air out.

The rubber brake hoses have been replaced they do get old and blow up like a balloon giving the pedal a mushy feeling.

Good luck!

 

On my rear shoes, I like to take the brake "spoon" and adjust them with it all together, mainly for the weight to spin the tire as I adjust. I'll adjust slowly till they touch and and you can hear the rubbing of the shoes, I'll take it on out till I can't spin the tire, then back off till I get the spin I'm looking for, usually about a full revolution of the tire spinning it with the tire on for the weight. Or a little more loosely say a one and a quarter turn.

This is after making sure all the hardware is working inside the drum and all the dust is out. Clear as mud, but this is how I've done it for 60yrs.

 

@pulldo thanks! Anything in particular you inspect inside?

 

IIRC, Toyota says to adjust the shoes to where there are 12 - 14 clicks on the E brake handle. Does the pedal feel firm if you have the e brake pulled?

Forgot to add one more check… on the equalizer bar that pulls both cables on the rear axle, there is a bushing, if it is gone or has slop it will effect the auto adjusters.

 

Hmm, I hadn't thought to try that, I will.

 

So I never knew that the rear brakes are kept in adjustment by the e-brake. I just finished completely redoing the rear end and when reassembling the drums I caught on to this. The length of pull on the e-brake is what will automatically adjust the shoes. So that would make sense about the 12 clicks or so. Seems like I learn something every day on this project.

 

Seems like the order of adjustment should be: shoes, e-brake arms, e-brake cable.

 

Yep, that's what I meant by checking inside, like the other guy said,, that's exactly what I did to mine. I wanted the self adjustment to work,, so I went through all the hardware when I first got the truck and inspected it and cleaned it all up. I set everything adjustment wise according the OEM manual as far as how the self adjustment is suppose to work. It works very well on mine. I haven't had to change anything in 6 to 8 yrs other than pull the drum and get all the brake dust out so the shoes have room to work and that the adjustment is where I want it to be as far as drag goes.

FYI, in the old days brake dust would go away on it's own, but thanks to the EPA we can no longer have that happen.

 

If you gonna do work on the rear drums pull the drums off to clean the old dust out and inspect, I use drylube on all the rear brake cable hinges and pivots outside of the drums.

 

Thanks!