Cannot remove rear rotted drums. Any tricks? Need to replace fuel lines + fittings + wheel clyinder

Hi

I have a 2003 4x4 2.7L. The King rustmonster. (See other posts if lacking belief to the claims of the King here).

As titled - I cannot budge out the rear drums.

Doing very simple front oxygen sensor replacement. Wanted to see if any chance to bleed rear drum brakes. None. The fitting is rotted in there beyond belief. So bad that not even touching ever the rear brake line but shocking the bleeder screw with impact ruptured the hydraulic brake line.

On my 4x4 there is a 3 way split from front fuel line to both rear fuel lines to the drums (and the wheel cylinders final destination).

The brake line fitting won't come out of there either. I have broken the brake line out with my bare hands to get a proper 6 point 10mm socket on both fittings. They round out immediately. No help so far with vice grips either. I soaked the area in PB Blaster for 2+ days.

I don't have anything beyond a small propane plumbing torch. Won't make enough heat (plus brake fluid is flammable and there may be a fuel leak to boot from the rusted tank).
I've smacked the drum with hammer and a sledge. I've tried to install a metric bolt in the face of it to push out the drum.

The rear brake is not locking on the drum. If I move the lever in the back of the drum I can stop and release the drum by hand.

I just went out and bought (2) M8 10mm head bolts 10.8 grade. This is my last shot to get the drums out. My thinking is the only chance I have to complete this just is pull the drums off, unbolt the wheel cylinders, throw them out and the rotted frozen ends of brake line fittings jammed in them along with the useless frozen bleeder bolts and install a new 3 way OEM Toyota block, two new brake lines, and two new wheel cylinders.


Not sure what I else I can do aside from lighting the truck on fire and sailing it out into the ocean, or give up (a tow truck to a mechanic) which will make me feel like poop.

 

FWIW I got those bolts at Home Depot for a couple bucks.
M8 1.25 x 16mm length bolts class 10.9 (strong) "Everbuilt" (Home Depot) brand.
if anyone finds this thread and is trying to find a solution.
#315310 and 8-8748002218-6 are numbers on the packaging.
"Cap Screws" "Zinc Plated"

I work on discs all the time and have barely worked on drums and feel like a fish out of water.
I will try to see how to release / turn the clicking thingee in case that's a problem but doubtful as the wheel freely turns.

 

Try the tip at the 14 minute 23 second mark in the video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGb51Od62t4

 

Thank you. I will give that a shot now.

 

If you have one I would recommend a brass hammer or brass punch.


Whacking the stud with a steel hammer and deforming it will add to the things you have to fix

 

Thank everyone!
I did follow that video advice and smacked the drum hard on all those points between the studs - while also turning in the M8 bolts on both sides...
Looks like I got some separation from the hub and broke the rust joint
However, I've got the drum brake now locked on, so I think this is now holding it in.
Before it turned freely, now it won't.
So I re-read the 03 FSM pages and will try the correct procedure (a 3rd Gen 4runner video apparently was incorrect on the procedure so I was not approaching the release with the right method).

 

I had a front rotor lock up on me this weekend but because I was replacing it anyways I beat it up with a normal hammer.

 

Yep, I've used a sledge hammer on really stubborn discs that I'm replacing anyway. Also the 'bolt pop' method has worked well for me on some.

I did have to use a regular hammer. My ball peens and brass hammer were at other location.
I can see (barely) the gear to adjust the drum shoes in/out. I can move it the wrong way, but cannot see or feel or figure out so far how to push out the retainer fork thingee... this is not easy blind with very little clearance fishing around

 

@GreenMM Back off the bolts while tapping the drum back on untill the drum turns. Slowly tighten the bolts while turning the drum until the brake shoes clears the wear ridge at back of drum. Make sure the Ebrake bellcrank is on its stop bolt and not frozen before hitting the stop.

 

WTF!!!!!!!
Are you kidding me with this shit???

First all, the metallurgists that designed the metal for these Tacomas should be dragged into a field and shot in the head.

Close behind whatever **shole deisgned this idiotic 'adjustment' blind from the back with zero clearance.
Are you F-ing kidding me?

All the "heroes" online show the contradicting directions on which way to turn the gear and of course they demo it already with the drum off.
Big deal. I'll post a video of me doing that too and be a big shot.

This is absolute shit. I cannot get this damn p.o.s. drum shoe to release.

SO NEXT... can I just brute force pound the sh*t out of it and tighten the bolts to oblivion and just drag / break whatever ass designed crap is in these horrible drums and just replace all that junk later? How much damage will I do?

I cannot spin the hub at all - drum solidly locked up.

 

The bolt holes in the drum will help but they have been on there for over 15 years. It's stuck on the axle flange. With a small drill bit drill several holes in the drum at the axle as tight as you can get to the axle flange. Tighten the bolt slowly don't force them or it will pull the threads out smack the drum with a hammer. Let's put it this way if you have a leaking cylinder you need to do what it takes to get the drum off right down to a torch.

 

The bell crank does move freely. Although it's in tighter now towards the drum.
I did release the 2 removal M8 bolts. I have not really tapped the drum back in yet to try to spin it that way.
But with the wrong direction published which way to turn the adjuster thingee, I've turned it the wrong direction and likely also tightened that up. i don't know if there's any way to release it, as I cannot get it to turn the other way.
No matter which direction I insert the first small screwdriver to push out the " automatic adjusting lever" I cannot apparently locate nor push it away from the adjuster gear rod.
I mean, I've been out there fishing a ton endlessly in all directions with nothing working.
At one point it seemed I could free spin the geared wheel either direction so that didn't help either - knowing which way it's free and to therefore turn it the other direction.
Does anyone else hate this crap to death or am I just a spazz here?

Also, I don't even have my wimpy little propane torch here, although i could get it. Figured it won't do anything wheezing at a huge surface area of the drum. I'd need a MAP torch or acetylene welders setup I am pretty sure to get any consequential heat on the drum.

And at this point I think I have broken that rust bond free. It's just the drum shoes forced into the drum that's immobilizing the area from releasing.

 

Yeah, it's the adjuster I believe that's now the main issue.
I guess I'm just too stupid and incompetent to successfully operate such an wonderfully designed system.
Drum brakes rot in hell.
No wonder I like sports cars and their oh so fancy 4 wheel disc brakes.
That new fangled technology all those cool kids use now... it's only been around since Jaguar pioneered all four wheel disc brakes in the 50s.
No, no, go ahead, save a few bucks.... get those drums on there...

 

Anyone know if this seems correct? From the 2003 FSM for 4x4 Tacoma.
Does that release lever look right? Direction 'up' to release look correct?
Youtubes shows different lever and location and one vid shows wrong direction.

EDIT by Green: I confirm this is correct and exactly the process that worked.

 

I saw Chrisfix run into a situation like this. He cut/ground the heads off the pins that hold the shoes to the backing plate. Dropped the shoes away from the drum and it slid right off.

 

Thanks for the comment. That could be a good plan B and where I am ultimately headed then. Appreciate you sharing that.

I may indeed angle grind off those pins next if I can't get the normal release done.
But my fishing around areas were based on incorrect videos online.
The FSM posted above shows the real location of that release lever, and the PDF diagram I saved for the '03 4x4 confirms that lever design and shape.
So I'm hopefully off with corrected knowledge of where to get that lever raised.

 

You can loosen the drum and shoe contact with the star adjuster, then put a lug nut on each side almost all the way on but not tight. Put it into drive let it spin and push the brakes, do the same on reverse to try and brake the seal between the axle shaft and drum. Obviously make sure the truck is secure on jack stands with the tires removed. Works on big trucks with heavy drums, maybe it will work.

 

Wow, that's an interesting idea, Anderson.

Well I can confirm the above posted FSM page is right.
I used a mirror and light to see thru the tiny slot - and I could in fact see that release lever above not below the adjuster rod.
I inserted a small flathead screwdriver between the adjuster rod and the lever and then twisted the blade to vertical to hold it off the gear.
Then it was actually really easy - FINALLY - to use another flathead to turn the exposed gear teeth UP and that fully released the drum.
Then it was back to using the M8 bolts a 1/2 turn at a time, with some rubber mallet blows and scraping the built up rust that raised the surface of the hub the drum slides over, and this all released the drum.

The wheel cylinder bolts were horrible, rotted and rounded. A 10mm socket just spun and spun. I remembered my friend the bolt extractors. The 10mm version was too large and spun so I went to a slightly smaller SAE size and it worked perfect to crank out those horrible bolts.
I even used the 10mm extractor on the old bleeder valve first, and that worked too, came right out.
The same could not be said for the brake end fitting. That's a round twisted mess and will go to it's metal grave with the old wheel cylinders.

Tomorrow I will try to break free the 3 way brake splitter and get the toyota passenger brake line from dealer and rinse and repeat on the other side the whole process.

Thank you everyone for help.
In summary:
-make sure you know which direction to turn and where the release lever is. This is what gave me fits mostly and a lot of needless delays.
(even if the brake is free and loose for some reason it tightens up when pulling the drum out).
- and going along with this above:
----> never trust the youtubes idiots who are not accurate to what they're talking about.

-have (2) M8 1.25 pitch at minimum 16mm or longer length. The 16mm just pushed the drum out flush to the end of the hub, and then I could easily pop it off with my hands.
-have bolt extractors on hand
-have cheater bar / pipe on hand
-hammer / rubber mallet / ball peen if you got one between the wheel studs.
-maybe file / sand / grind down the outside of the hub so the sliding drum doesnt have extra junk to hang up on.

 

I guess it all comes down to what you work on.

To me drum brakes are much easier then disc brakes Then the hours spent converting trailer brakes back to drum brakes has a major impact.

 

A thin rod helps to push the lever away from the starwheel.