How often do you adjust rear drum brakes?

Hi everybody,

I was wondering how often should you have the rear drum brakes adjusted or cleaned ? I have 37K on my 2014 taco and did it about 9 thousand miles ago.

 

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it

 

Use your parking brake when you park. I believe it adjusts your brake for you.

 

I think when you reverse and hit the brakes that adjusts them but I could be wrong

 

Parking brake use should adjust the drums, assuming the adjusting mechanism doesn't bind up.

It's cheap and easy to 'service' the front calipers and rear assembly at least once a year in non salt climates, pre and post salt in northern climes and maybe more if you are an off roader in heavy wet/muck.

By service, I mean clean, lubricate motion points and inspect. You'll keep things working freely and make the brakes last longer in most cases.

 

They "sort of" self adjust, when they are far out the wheel will turn and lock in place, but it won't adjust anywhere near to spec.

I adjust any Taco drum when they are off, which for most of my customers is every 16000km or 10,000mi.

It's harder to gauge how effective the brake adjustment is because of the pull style hand brake but when it's right it feels a lot more firm.

 

Ok thanks everyone for the advice

 

Ive had trouble with mine adjusting like they're supposed to, next time I have he wheels off, I will be cleaning and lubricating the "self adjuster" on both sides. Steves104x4 is correct, when you apply the brakes in reverse sharply (aka, panic stop) the tang pushes down on the notched part on the self adjuster to unscrew it slightly for an adjustment. If the adjuster is gummed up (not freely unscrewing) it wont adjust efficiently.

 

Honestly never by hand, mine have always self adjusted correctly.

 

I got to about 118,000 on my factory pads