17 TRD OR DCLB - Drum brake issue

Truck specs: totally stock 17 TRD OR DCLB, 92k miles. Transmission replaced under warranty at about 25k. Center support bearing failed and replaced at about 85K.

In short here’s the situation: my Tacoma is roasting rear drums every 3-5k miles under normal driving conditions. Situation manifests by pulsing in the brake pedal and the seat. The situation is always cured by turning the drums. It first happened at about 3k miles and the dealership replaced drums and shoes under warranty. After the first episode I was driving long highway commutes with little braking and I quickly blew through the warranty before I realized I had a chronic condition. Efforts I’ve made the correct the condition since the warranty expired:

1. Replaced the drums with Bendix models. Those warped as well.
2. Paid a great local tire shop to replace ALL the rear brake components (including the wheel cylinders), re-turn the Bendix drums, and bleed the brake system. Brakes felt amazing when I left the shop and it lasted until I put it through several days of commuting in stop and go traffic with moderate elevation changes thrown in. The pulsing is back and apparently the total rear brake replacement effort didn’t correct the situation.

Additional details:

1. The truck had about 65k on it and I cranked it one day to leave the house and the parking brake had seized up. Until this happened, I always engaged the parking brake when I parked, regardless of the position of the truck (leftover habit from a stick shift). After this happened I immediately stopped the habit of setting the parking brake every time I parked the truck. The drums have warped several times since I stopped using the parking brake.
2. My local tire shop rotated the tires a few weeks ago (after the total brake replacement) and the brake technician came out and talked with me. He said the drums were almost too hot to touch and this was inconsistent with what he typically sees. He used an IR temp gun to read the surface temp and while I forget the exact numbers he stated, he said he never sees drums this hot and believes the truck’s proportional braking scheme is screwed up such that too much braking effort is being carried by the drums.

Given what I’ve stated above, does anyone have any ideas of anything else I should check? Heaven help me if the primary brake controller is defective and needs to be replaced. The pump assembly (Toyota 47050-4150) is listed at about $1700 on one dealership’s website. Between the transmission issue and the braking issue, I’m almost ready to dump this thing.

 

Have you noticed any significant reduction in the Tacoma's "nose dive"? That may be one indication if your front brakes aren't doing much work.

 

Given the original drum warp happened at 3k miles, I believe the condition has always existed. I'd probably have to test drive another third gen to compare nose dive.

 

https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2018/toyota-tacoma-bent-rear-axles-warp-brake-drums-lawsuit.shtml

Bent axles?