3rd Gen Drum Brake Nonsense

Well, there is a proportioning valve that keeps the braking proportional, hence the name, to the weight distribution of the vehicle, so if you've got an empty bed, you're hardly going to be using the rear brakes, and you wouldn't want to anyway or you'd be constantly engaging the anti-lock braking system. My '93 truck (pre Tacoma) had 300K miles on it and only half the brake shoe material worn off at that point when I sold it.

 

A joke is like a woman getting out of a car. Sometimes you see it, sometimes you don't

 

Same reason rear discs seize up and trash every part of the assembly. 24 years of rear disc brakes on my S10 ZR2 and I'm glad to have drums again on my Tacoma.



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I would take it to the dealer and have them properly adjusted . Not questioning your skills but if you are having issues u might be doing something wrong . Not having your brakes functioning correctly can be dangerous . Best of luck .

 

Drum brakes don’t dry out as nicely as disc on account of them being so closed up. They work perfectly and for a long time if you actually drive the truck. Sitting kills lots of things on a vehicle.

 

Your brake adjustment should be automatic when you back up and push the brakes several times.

 

All brakes work every time you break.
However, the front will always bear the truck weight and wear first

 

Sure. Take the entire hub off and install disc hub for a lot of money.
Is it that important?

 

You would be surprised what it does

 

70% front 30% rear....ish' is the motorcycle thinking. Same'ish here I imagine.

I thought it was silly that the last year of the Jeep Cherokee sport was still drums so ya'll can imagine what I think of something 21 years later having them. But whatever.

Changing to disks would be expensive. I think I priced it out on my Jeep years ago and it would have just been cheaper and easier to find a Ford explorer rear axle with matching gears.

I'm over it. I play the drums so I might as well embrace them!? :/

 

I have some time this Evening, so I'm planning on pulling the drums and following @joba27n 's "reset maintenance" on the drum system and seeing if that fixes the problem. Planning on replacing the adjusters w/ OEM parts I got in the mail last week to remove another point of error.

If it persists - I agree w/ @Mallcrawler20... gotta know when you're in over your head. Doesn't really seem like all that complicated of a mechanical system to me... but what do I know. Toyota folks at the shop crank on these all day long and there may be some tiny spring orientation I'm not doing correctly that causing all the problems.

 

I hate the fact that drums still exist...BUT they are suuuper simple. Just take a pic or two before touching anything if you feel the need.

 

They were replaced because the outside or the inside of the drums were rusted? Most drum brakes will last 100k before needing to be serviced.

 

Serviced, lubed, reinstalled everything last night and drums feel great braking... but with the same consistent "one-per-rotation" squeak.

Consistently notice the squeaking while under light braking conditions. Followed the "5-clicks" off rule and don't think it's due to the shoes being "loose" inside the drum anymore.

At this point, I'm leaning towards something from the drum itself scraping against the backing plate or similar as it doesn't seem related the internal hardware itself. Going to drive it around for a few weeks while consistently using the E-brake when parking/reversing. If issue does not resolve within a week... Loretta is going into the dealership.

Thank you @joba27n for the mainteance protocol. I really like the process and feel good about doing as much as I could to get this squeaking to resolve.

 

Glad I could be of assistance and wish it resolved your noise concern. Only other thing i'm thinking it could be related to the drums is maybe rust on the edge of the drum that goes into the groove of the backing plate that might need a little caressing with some sand paper. Either way drive it for a bit with a few hard stops and it may even smooth itself out.

 

Update:

Took the truck into the dealership yesterday after continued squeaking noises this weekend. Service advisor checked drums for out-of-round and determined rotors, pads, hardware was all intalled correctly. Said the shoes were "way too adjusted" whatever that means... They loosed the adjuster wheel and now the E-brake doesn't work unless pulled 15 clicks up and instead of a squeaking noise, there is a sand-paper-like "chugging" noise when coming to a complete stop at low speed.

At this point, I am 75% convinced it is an issue with the drum Wheel Cylinder being seized. The truck sat for some months before I bought it so I am beginning to wonder if the wheel cylinder isn't equally/smothly expanding. This would be consistent w/ the frequency of hearing the friction only once per rotation and rumbly braking at highway speeds.

From some brief research it seems like a pretty easy install. Only part I'm hesistant about is getting air in the lines after disconnecting from the cylinder. Nothing I can't figure out from YouTube.

Will keep everyone posted once I get to it if that ends up solving the problem.

 

??? The dealer diag doesn't make alot of sense.. if you were up in Canada i'd have you sorted out the same time. Too bad all our igloos are too far from Virgina

 

@joba27n Yes - I agree. This is the second delership I've taken the truck to with the same response and lack of resolution.

I supose in their minds... if they adjust the wheel and the noise stops momentarily they've "fixed" the issue (and ignore the fact that in doing so... they've rended the e-brake dangerously innefective). Getting tired of paying $200 for a rental car and labor for them just to give me the truck back and no resolution.

I was half-tempted to just direct the dealership to replace the wheel cylinder while I was there, but the little "itch" in my brain reminded me that they will probably need the truck for a week to get that done and charge me $1000+ for a job I can do at home for <$100.

 

Also Im not sure if a wheel cylinder is your issue. You can see if one is seized though by adjusting your drums back properly and having someone hold the brake pedal then trying to spin the drums

Next time your drums are off try a little bit of grease around the edge of the drum that goes into the edge of the backing plate. I feel like your concern is still there. Maybe a fugitive piece of rust of the backing plate is a little tweaked/bent?

 

@joba27n Thanks for the advice. Will definitely try that out and put a little grease on the edge of the drum whle doing the wheel cylinder replacement. Can't hurt to attack the issue from a few angles.

My only theoretical disagreement w/ the backing plate theory would be why do I only hear the noise when brake pressure is applied? I would think that if a piece of rust or debris is interfering w/ the drum surface... I would hear that grinding/squeaking noise regardless of whether or not brake pressure was applied. But the sounds/vibration only presents itself when brake pressure is applied. This leads me to believe there is something wrong w/ the mechanical interface btw/ the rotor/pad assembly.

Will definitely let you know what I conclude after this Saturday's round of repairs. Thanks!