Wheel Cylinder?

So had my brakes checked today, And we found out that my rear Cylinder is starting to leak.. its not bad yet. So i asked how much it would cost for them at the shop to do it. quoted me about 250-300 for both sides and pads? Is this something i can do myself. I have a garage at my dads with all the tools i would need and Rock Auto has the cylinders for 15 a piece. Wearever shoes are 32.00... So now im looking at $60 for everything... sooo? is it something i can do in the driveway..

 

I would go for it. That is a reasonably simple task. The hardest part is probably bleeding the lines afterward. My personal philosophy would be to replace only the leaky cylinder, and the brake shoes only if they are excessively worn.

 

im honestly not sure on a tacoma but on my old ranger it was a fairly simple task. a few hours of your time could save you a few bucks

 

You can do it yourself and if you are fairly good at turning a wrench, this can be a easy project to do. I would change Both wheel cylinders, as the price is low and there is a fear that if one cylinder goes out, the other one will go out soon also. Just do one side at a time, so you see where everything goes instead of taking both sides apart at the same time.
Good Luck.

 

Not the most difficult task for sure. On a difficulty scale of 1-10, with a 1 being easiest, and a 10 being difficult, rear wheel cylinders and brake pads are about a 1.5 on difficulty. The best advice I give is ONLY do one side at a time, so that if you get confused as to how anything fits, you can look at the other side to see! Some of the smaller pieces and parts for the drum brake system can get confusing if you are not familiar with them.

 

Awesome thank you guys! im gonna tackle it in the spring time! i appreciate all the advice. Im gonna do both just because the parts are cheap and if i can do it my self might as well do both at the same time

 

X2 do only one side at a time then you can look at unassembled side on reassembly if you forget how something is installed.

 

Did you ever get this done? One of mine went out and I need to do this. Is there any special equipment I need to prime it? My truck has that weird ABS pump near the master cylinder

 

Ya i did this on my truck. no special tools needed. I dont remember if it had the weird ABS pump but im sure it did. (its been a couple years) It was pretty straight forward. Just make sure you pay attention to the springs. they are side specific. I didnt and had to take most of one side back apart to put the right springs on.

 

awesome, will be doing mine today. thanks for the quick reply

 

Oh and how low was your brake reservoir when you found the leak? All of my brake fluid leaked out since it happened while I was driving

 

mine was close to 1/4 full when i was changing mine

 

Got it done, the ABS pump was being a PITA but after about 30 minutes of bleeding all 4 corners it self primed. At first it would just beep at me saying the brakes weren't working but eventually it kicked in and all was normal.

 

Glad to Hear it!!