Rear drum brakes - why?

So why can you buy an FJ or 4Runner and get rear disc brakes, but we get drums on the Taco? Same drivetrain, right?
Anyone converted their Taco to rear disc?
Aftermarket parts or oem swap from FJ or 4R?

 

drums don't get packed with mud and last longer.

 

Drums work just fine in the back you shouldn't worry. It's way more important to have discs in the front. The only downside to drums is that they can loose braking ability when submerged in water. So unless you're in 3ft or more of water going downstream and need to stop instantly, you'll be fine.

 

Wondered the same thing myself. Our 02 Duramax pickup had rear discs and the brakes were still good at 125k. My son's 99 pre-runner seems to have way better brakes than my 11 TRD off road does. Love the truck overall, but not real impressed with the braking ability.

 

my shoes/drums are original at 175k. About half worn last time I checked a few months ago.

 

I was thinking the same thing, just for the fact that I hate working on drum breaks..

and I agree with the 2011 not breaking as good as the older ones.. mine seems to break smooth, then just grab out of no where. Only have 1500 miles on it and never had to break hard or fast once. Had the dealer check it out, they say its normal.

 

Drums suck ass to work on.

I've heard that e-brakes cost a lot more to set up on discs so they cheap out and give us drums.

 

Thanks for the links, MJP. Admittedly I did not do due diligence looking for this info on the site.
My whole point was why can you get them on the FJ and 4R but i guess its the unloaded bed factor, although couldn't a proportioning valve solve the problem? My old '83 SB had a primitive prop. valve in the rear, albeit with drum brakes.
I only wanted to switch because I find disc setups to be much simpler to maintain and replace.
I did the conversion on my 76 FJ40 and did have to dick around a bit with the system to make it workable (installed prop. valve and cranked it all the way down). Also had to run a newer master cyl, but it bolted right up so no problems there. The truck stopped a LOT better though, could haul it down from 75mph real quick, even with 32's and wagon steelies.

 

thanks for the info mjp! brakes have been an issue for me, I hunt so mountain pass driving with loaded bed/trailer is a relatively common occurence for me. original front brakes chattered like hell when descending long hills (i assume this is off-gassing) with the original units, which i think were ceramic, so when i replaced them i bought raybestos premium "ceramic" pads and they seem to suck. my wheels get all brake-dusty now and never did with the original pads. also i have to press harder to stop. maybe my rears arent tight enough, im not sure where to adjust them to, i set them so they drag a little (spinning wheel manually when on jackstands), but should they be tighter?

 

Rear drums ugh... The hassle to work on this ancient design is enough to piss the pope off. Now maybe the mud issue is relevant but all else is poppycock.

 

subscribed... after 5+ years I still hate my brakes and (one day) will actually need to replace the OEM ones...

 

I can understand if you're trailering, then the discs would be nice, but otherwise I don't get the big deal with drums. If they're proportioned correctly they work well, and being self-adjusting they darn near last forever.

When you think about it, big rigs have drums on every axle, so they can't be totally useless.

 

drums are annoying to work on. I always wondered why they still use drums.

 

Drums are self energizing uses the weight shift to help apply them good rear brakes for a loaded truck. I never replaced the rear brakes on my 97 in 248K miles fixed the parking brake pivot inside the drum several times though. I still don't get the complaints about the newer Taco brakes, mine are out standing stops me my camper and the truck just fine ABS works as it should stops as well as the old one did only better.

 

That's my thought as well. I don't need the extra stopping power, I don't care how they look, I just really hate working on drum breaks. Every car I've ever owned I replaced the drums to disc as soon as I could.