weird brake honk and "bubble" after rear brake service... any opinions?

Sorry for the long post, but I have these weird symptoms with my brakes, and any opinions on what could be going on would be really appreciated.

My '97 V6 4x4, basically stock... took it to a shop because my back brakes were way past due. They were toast. Here's what they did to fix it (from the service tag for the brakes - they did some other stuff too):

• Replaced rear brake shoes, spring/hardware
• replaced rear wheel cylinders
• resurfaced drums
• cleaned / adjusted parking brake
• bled brake fluid

On the drive home, I come to a stop and the brakes honked! Not super loud, but it's there. On top of that, as I stop, the pedal pushes back at me like there's a little balloon inflating in there or something. Just a little, but it is enough to be concerning.

Everything seems/feels normal until the verrrrrry end of the stop, then HERNK! Like even just going 10mph and stopping makes it happen. It is not metallic, just kinda rubbery.

The brakes don't feel mushy or soft really, and the truck stops fine... just with a honk and the weird pedal feeling right at the end. I have never driven anything with air in the brake lines, so I don't really know what that feels like, except that people call it "mushy," and I don't think it is that.

I took it back to the shop, they said to give it some time because it needs to "break in." So I gave them the benefit of the doubt and drove around for a few days. It didn't change.

So then I tried bedding-in the brakes to see if that would do anything... like 8 or 12 sixty-to-zero brake slams without fully stopping or ABS kicking in. I thought that made it better, but nope. It's still there.

Also, it seems like this is coming from the front, not the back where all the work was done. Just my feeling, but it seems to be from the front. Am I crazy? I will try to make a video...

Could air get in from the back to the front brakes or the MC or the booster (?) or something?

Has anyone even heard of this before? I searched around, but didn't find much.

I will be taking it back to the shop again asap.

Thanks in advance for any ideas or thoughts! This is a new one on me!

 

Definately brake chatter. Remove the drums and look at the finished machining. Is it smooth or look and feel grooved? Were they snug or loose when you pulled them off? You may want to check the adjustment. Backing up and appling medium to hard brake pedal pressure. This should apply the self adjuster if funtionioming right. Was this a competent brake shop ? The drums may be overssized also.

 

That is not how to adjust the drum brakes on a 1st gen Tacoma. They are adjusted via setting the parking brake. When you pull the parking brake, it either can go far enough to advance a tooth on the star nut, or not.

@OP- take it back to the shop until they get it right. Brakes shouldn't make any noise like that, and your pedal shouldn't feel variable if the job was done correctly.

 

If the 1st gen is free floating self energizing, as I'm pretty sure they are, Both the ebrake and reverse braking do the same thing. They both cause the star adjuster to ratchet and tighten until movement is reduced enough (shoes adjusted with in specs)

 

MIRACLE OF MIRACLES! The shop figured it out!

Short answer: dirty ABS sensor.

They cleaned it, re-installed, and now she brakes like a truck (ha)!

They even refused to let me pay for the work! If you are in the Tulare / Visalia region of dustbowl CA, go see Mario over at Kiko's repair shop. They have resurrected (to stay on the miracle theme!) my ancient 1st gen. Two thumbs up and kudos to those guys.

Now that it is figured out, it kinda makse sense... there was a weird pulsing right at the end of braking. So, the shop tested it and said that it was triggering the ABS.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions! Another one for the weird symptoms book I guess?

 

Mechanics like the one the OP found are a rare find indeed! I found one 30 years ago, but now he's retired.

 

HA!
i remember when i was a kid and my Dad changed brakes on aunt's car 76 Skylark
went for the backwards ride and slam brake pedal with him....i thought was so cool
wish he would of taught me how to do a 'Rockford' maneuver!!!!!!

 

Yeah... "the Rockford" as the boy and I knew it.

My oldest son learned to reverse his slippery plastic wheeled pedal car, lock up the pedals and then drive out of the spin. He later bought an ex cop car to drift. 70 mph drifts up curving on ramps with 10 ft side drop offs can make one re evalute your life.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5X7XGmS6Pe4

 

^^^ u know your a badass when a car maneuver is named after you.
Stunt driver or not.