Rear drums screeching at low speeds

Hey my 2013 Tacoma has been screeching when I brake at low speeds. My local shop cleaned the drums and claimed they were in good condition, but the screeching sound came back in a few days. I do live on a dirt road so I’m not sure if that’s a contributing factor.

I looked on other forums but didn’t find a clear answer.

Should I replace the drums and shoes, or clean and lubricate again?


Thanks

 

Broken rr emergency brake cable is my guess. Buy the oe cable. Good luck!

 

Dirt road can lead to contamination of the shoe surface

 

When do you hear the noise? Low medium high speed? Light medium hard braking? Is it constant or on and off?

You might have glazed braking surfaces, drum and shoe contact areas. If the shop that looked at it knows what they’re doing, the shoes probably still have plenty of life left.

It’s something you can fix yourself. Pull the drums off & take a look. The drum and shoe contact areas are what you want to see. The drums may appear shiny and polished. The shoes may have a shiny appearance. Take some emery cloth, lightly sand the shoe surfaces, just enough to knock off the shine. Keep in mind your sanding life away from the braking material so go lightly. The drums I like to first go at it in the same direction the shoes grab, kinda a 1/3 circle back and forth. Then up and down at a 45 degree angle. All evenly as possible. Or you could bring them to get turned at a place that does it. Ask them to just knock the glaze off and hopefully they won’t machine the crap out of them. Wash the drums with brake cleaner, reassemble, noise should be gone.

Look up how to adjust the rear brake self adjusters. Before you put the drums back on, stick your adjusting tool through the hole to see how to do it, and how to stick something else in to be able to release and back off the adjusters. I did it recently and it’s a little tricky but not impossible. Now I have a more firm brake pedal, hand brake doesn’t pull up as high but no noticeable change in braking performance.