Weak parking brake

I have a 2006 Tacoma (automatic), and recently I noticed my parking brake pedal goes to the floor when I set it. The truck still holds, but anything more than a slight grade will cause it to slip.

I took a look, and I found a problem. I am looking to see if anyone has encountered this or has any suggestions.

The driver's side parking brake lever assembly shows one part that is "scissoring" behind the other. I can manually line these up and it's fine for a week or so, but eventually it goes back out of alignment.

Pictures show what I mean.

What this hinge should look like:


What I find after driving for a few days and the problem comes back:


For context, this is the top portion of that lever component:


I suppose I could just order a replacement for the vertical outside piece, but I don't know for a fact that it's bent or otherwise out of spec. There is some play on these two parts, along the plane of the axle. Maybe these components should be just on top of the shoes instead of floating a couple of centimeters off?

Thanks!

 

You are right that they should be like in your first picture and not scissoring. The axle shaft holes may be worn allowing the plates to float away from each other.

 

Thanks, I'll try to get a closer look at the axle shaft holes.

 

Just to clarify what I mean by " Axle Shaft Holes " is the Pivot shafts for the Parking Brake Levers where the C Clips are on the rear brake shoe.

 

backing plate*