When to change rear brakes?

i have a 2010 Dbl can prerunner lifted 3" lift and 33" bfg's with 98000 miles. When do you guys think I should change the rear brakes? I replaced the fronts at 70000.

 

Definitely want to consider it when they hit the 3mm or less pad thickness.

 

B R A K E S

 

Has anyone changed there rear brakes and is it that hard?

 

There are vids on YouTube

 

Change 'em when they need it (according to material that's left).

My previous tacoma had 110,000 miles on it when I sold it and I never changed the rear shoes. They had plenty of life on 'em.

 

Of course they have. They don't last forever.

Since you're asking, I'm assuming you've never worked on drum brakes before?

If that's true, then it would be helpful to have someone with experience look over your shoulder and coach you through it. Only disassemble one side at a time, so you have the other side as a reference (although mirrored) if you can't recall where certain bits go. Another simple aid is to do some cleaning pre disassembly to show things well, and take a couple of clear photos.

If my assumption is wrong and you have worked successfully on drum brakes before, then you'll be just fine.

 

Any parts house should be able to give you the thinkness specs for the shoes/drums. HF sells budget measuring tools that will suffice for this application. If either is outside of spec, replacement is in order.

If the drums have deep groves that the shoes get set in easily, replacement is in order

If the wheel cylinders are wet on the ends, rebuilding or replacement is in order

You don't say how you use the truck, just the mileage. If that's pretty much easy clean driving, rears will often last 1.5-2x the front, so you may be fine. But only an examination will tell for sure.

At a minimum while you are examining, clean everything up (within reason, no disassembly other than the drum really needed), lube the appropriate points, and adjust the shoes, making sure the star adjuster works freely.

 

Clearwater thanks for your help i haven't done drums before. I will check them and see what is left on the pads.

 

Pull your drums next time you rotate your tires and take a look at them. Pick up a can of brake clean, and spray them things out real good. Lots of dust and gunk build up in there.

My Ranger went many many thousands of miles and I never did nothing more than spray them out every once in awhile. Still had probably 50% life left on them.

Your front brakes do most of the work

 

i changed mine at 125k and the drums were shot too, but not horribly. I'm sure by now the weights on your drums fell off as had mine. I never saw any adverse results from that happening.

The drum setup is a bit odd as compared to all of the GM products that I was used too. Be sure to only do one side at a time so you can see how the other side was originally.

Be aware that these drums are about $110 each, that's right, each. Also be forewarned that at 125K my e brake cables went and caused those new brake shoes to be destroyed and I had to have the brand new drums cut. That all happened in about 5k after all of the work was done. The dealer charges $450 to replace the ebrake cables, a job that I would typically do myself, but it was all about the timing.

The symptoms of the bad cables was not something that I had experienced before. My brakes started grabbing and one side started to lock up on heavy breaking. I had convinced myself that I had done something wrong during my brake job and had taken everything back apart again but found nothing. I had to go to the dealer for something and I asked him to check it for me, that's when it was determined that the e brake cable was the cause.

 

Have done disks several times, but I have a shop do drums. Noticed the shop does it this way, and would look at the other side a couple of times doing re-assembly.

 

I have changed my last 2 trucks rear drum brakes at 100K, and they had another 30k left on them.

Drum brakes are not hard, but way more complicated than disk brakes up front. Watch the videos, and take pictures during disassembly and you will be fine.

The first set of drums I did I had a hard time putting back together (I had to phone a friend!) wish I would have had a camera phone back then.

 

Before I got my rears replaced, I pulled the hub and noticed that they were thin on the one side and never having done them before I went to a shop. I told the guy I need the rears done and it was like he didn't believe me. He called me up and was like "yeah you really do need rears" No shiat, I wouldn't be there if I didn't. Ended up having to pull one of the hubs after I heard a strange sound. Tech didn't put one of the springs in place right when he did them. Went online and saw how it was supposed to be put in and put it in. I decided to pull the other hub to take a look, the shoe retractor wouldn't budge. It was frozen in place. Popped off the hub using the bolt holes and the springs that hold the pads in place popped off and ruined the spring caps. Ran to Pepboys and found some springs that would work and put them on. I then cleaned both sides and freed the stuck retractors and reinstalled them. To sum up, they are not hard but kinda confusing, watch vids and leave the other side untouched until the first is done. I won't ever use that shop again.

 

I read that drum brakes are designed to last for 200,000 miles. After taking off the drums today to look at the pads, they is about 75-80% pad left! I was shocked. I bougt new pads and springs. I just replaced my front brakes for the first time 2 weeks ago. Toyota builds them tough! I have 98K miles. I'll check them in about 30K miles to see how they are doing.

Also, I thought it was odd that Toyota had to order rear brake parts. I guess they don't change rear brakes much.

 

Mine still look new with 84k on the odometer. I just clean and adjust them every now and then.

 

My last truck was 20 years old and still had the original brakes all around. I don't remember the last time I needed to replace rear shoes on a vehicle. My wife's 1998 Sienna Van still had the original rear shoes when we sold it it had 200K Miles on it.

 

I only changed mine because the rear axle seal was leaking and I had the seal replaced. At about 100K miles, the shoes still had plenty of life in them, but were soaked in gear oil.

Changing them was not overly difficult for the first time with drums. I found the Chiltons manual easier to understand than any of the youtube videos or service manuals.

It did take me awhile to get adjusted as none of the do a handstand, suck your thumb, blindfold yourself, and back off 15 clicks crap worked for me.

 

Drum brakes are so maintenance free. Very normal to go 150k with just a little occasional cleaning. When it comes time for replacing, take both drums off but take apart only one side at a time. I've done drum brakes a dozen times over the years and still like to check the other side while assembling. They last so long it's worth replacing both shied and drums together.

 

If your axle seal is leaking, check the diff vent for blockage. If it is, high temps can increase pressure and force oil past seals.