Apparently Tacomas don't use rear brakes….

You can explain it as many different ways as you want, whether you refer to the year you're doing it or anything else that you can imagine up, it doesn't matter to me. The only reason I'm even replying is so readers can get a multiple opinions.

The local machine shop charges $9 per drum turned.

I seriously doubt O'Rielly's is turning the drums and is most likely subletting the job out which means you'd be paying a middle man.

 

Oh well, I do the same for hookers and blow. What’s a guy to do

 

You going to pay me an hour to drive the drums to the machine shop?

 

No. I’m going to pay you to put new ones on.
I’d like to have my truck back as quick as possible.
And you won’t have to disappoint me if my old drums can’t be turned.

Almost no shops in my area will even fool with turning drums or rotors.
The guys that actually know how to use a micrometer, don’t want to.
And the new guys can’t.

 

Sometimes there's other ways to build value for your customers than trying to be the cheapest possible shop. Not everyone is looking for cheap

 

That is a very true statement.

 

^^^ +1
Your 2012 truck should be equipped with: Electronic Brake-Force Distribution (EBD) Brake Assist (BA), and Stability control. They all utilize the rear brakes as part of the system. I have to stop at the end of the street at a HUGE uphill incline every day. "BA" holds my truck on that incline perfectly: every time: might get a half-inch roll back before it takes over, but that's it. I believe it activates the rear brakes to perform this very useful function. (I wish the car I had when I went to take the driving test to get my license had it: a 1972 XXXXX (it's embarrassing) with a stick. The registry officer took me to a spot which was basically a slope like something on the side of Mt Everest for the stopped roll-back test: I --didn't-- roll backwards and I could tell it really disappointed him. My late Dad taught my to drive a stick. It also works perfectly with a loaded, enclosed snowmobile trailer back there on the same incline when it's hitched up.

I'm not sure if a Tacoma is equipped with Roll-Over Stability Control but it won't/can't work without the rear brakes making a contribution to the task. Same thing with the Electronic Trailer Sway control that comes with Trailer Towing package. Early ABS on trucks was rear-wheel only to control wheel lockup on the unloaded drum rear brakes. My '87 and '89 trucks had them.

In a slippery snow covered corner (like an off ramp) when the back end swings out, the rear brakes are one of the components that reach out and pull your back end back into reality. A brake is a brake: rear brakes are capable of contributing in the ABS world too. The ABS ECU pulses them just like the fronts: note the four lines coming out of the controller under the hood.

 

Thank you for this. Lmao

FACTS
Lmao

 

Believe it or not, the dealership I work at not only has a Brake Lathe, but we have several guys who use it on drums and know what they're doing. (Nobody turns rotors.) Pretty much unheard of though. They didn't even teach my son how to use one in Toyota T-Ten school.

 

What does it feel like while braking in reverse?