New brakes but still squishy pedal?

Hi there,

I changed the shoes on the back of my Tacoma, the drums looked fine. I was pretty sure I adjusted them properly and afterwards the pedal was still pretty squishy.
I then bled brakes, but I’m still getting a whole lot of squish and my E brake feels A little too easy to pull. Any thoughts?

 

Sounds like they aren't out far enough. Jack the axle up and Adjust them out some more until there is a slight resistance turning the wheel.

 

Got it, that would make sense. It felt like a really tight fit when putting the drum back on. Is there a way to adjust them with the drum on?

 

Should be a little access hole either on the front of the drum or on the backing plate, most likely need the wheel off. I would just take the drum off. Easiest way with least amount of stress

 

Drum goes on loose and you snug up the brake shoes to where they light touch the drum. As you are laying under truck working the adjust, your other hand spins the wheel. At first you may hear nothing, but as you adjust the you will hear the shoe making contact with the drum. As the occurs the wheel will slow down and not spin as free. Then stop, and grab a Heineken. Repeat on the other side , ditto for Heineken.

 

The adjuster is accessible from the back of the wheel thru a little window. Use a little flat head screwdriver to rotate a bit then spin the wheel.

 

Alltaco is correct, adjust it in the back with the tire on. Spin tire 2 rotations adjustment done.

 

Make sure you go the correct direction...

 

How did you adjust the shoes? I've had good luck with the FSM procedure having done this 5 times on 3 Tacomas:

(a) Provisionally install the hub nuts.
(b) Remove the hole plug, and turn the adjuster to expand the shoe until the drum locks.
(c) Using a screwdriver, release the adjuster 15 notches.
(d) Install the hole plug.

This should be done with the tire removed so you can look into the hole with a flashlight. Use two screwdrivers when backing off the adjuster 15 notches - one screwdriver to push away the little leaf spring, second screwdriver to turn the adjuster.

 

which way, pressure up or down, when moving the star wheel inside the slot?

 

Also double check your bleed job,,, better yet do a full fluid change, old overheated fluid can have moisture.

 

Only can go one way easily. To go the other way you have to hold the catch pin over.

Tighten 1 tool
Back off 2 tools

 

To be honest I'm not sure usually just go one way and see if its the right way lol. I've been a mechanic for a while and for some reason can never remember

 

Thanks everyone. I adjusted them again and it definitely improved in pedal and braking, but still not as much as I would have liked. I’ll keep tweaking it until it feels better. First time doing shoes/drums and man is it a pain!

 

I hate drum brakes!

 

And here we go

 

What model truck?
OEM parts?