Parking brake issue

2006 access cab, 4x4, 5spd manual, 4cyl..


Replaced my rear shoes and drums today....one at a time....followed the procedure in the manual... One at a time....fully tight than back up 15 clicks....before my parking brake would work on a steep hill...not anymore! Tried adjusting the cable under the center console and again at the drums..no joy....it stops a roll on a very gentle slope...but that's it....any guesses?

 

Does the handbrake feel normal? New shoes take a while to wear in for maximum hold, but this sounds like more than that.

 

pressing the parking brake several times or numerous times will adjust/seat the new shoes to its proper place

 

Were the drums turned or replaced ? If not the surface is irregular enough that the new shoes are only hitting and pushing the high spots. Not fully seating, add to this the new shoes radius is different than the drum, so the contact area between the 2 parts is reduced. This is normal, but can be addressed by turning or replacing the drums.

The rough surface of the new or turned drums will abrade the shoes and allow them to seat sooner the radius contact will wear in over time. Radius dressing shoes used to be a service but has been discontinued because of the hazards of the dust created. ( don't blow the dust out of drums with and air blower, it is carcinogenic and can cause you problems )

 

Sub'd

 

Yes it was new shoes and drums.... That's why I'm so confused, it should be rather tight. The parking brake handle felt normal.... Now that I have it adjusted super tight it's still not holding the vehicle other than on a very gentle slope. Rather confused by this.

 

have you tried to "auto adjust " the shoes ?

EVERY rear drum brake vehicle these days has an " auto adjust" feature, not all work the same way, but they work most times.

it may take a few times to do this, so you have to be patient. backing up and pumping the brakes hard, multiple times, working the parking brake handle in the same manner repeat the process ( you'll have to work the handle so it doesn't stay set )

there should be a reasonable drag on the drums, hard to turn by hand, they will self clearance as they seat. once they seat ( it will take a few trips ) the wheels will turn freely.

another thing to consider, is the park brake cables are stretched far enough that the cable adjusters cannot take up for the extra any more, you may have a broken cable inside the housing and not see it, the equalizer is only pulling one cable ( I see this a lot on the forklifts I work on, the brakes are very similar )

pull the center console there the equalizer is, see if it is pulling even. if the 2 cables are not even, they aren't pulling equally and you may have a cable issue

 

Drive it, carefully at first, to help seat the new shoes to the drums. It should be up to normal parking brake holding torque in a few thousand miles, but a noticeable improvement after a few hundred.

 

Well as far as I know the 06 Tacomas are tightened each time the parking brake is used....the other night I did it about a good 20 times and it still did not tighten enough....brakes are barely dragging even if I tighten the actuators all the way at the individual cylinders! I'm thinking that I'd by my next oil change this problem has not fixed itself I will probably have to replace the parking brake cables.....it's a manual with a 130k most of which is used in town so I use my parking brake numerous times every day.

 

where you located ?

 

back up

hit park brake

repeat

should get them set

 

South Oklahoma city

 

Tried that...no joy :/

 

I'm on east coast, little to far away to be of any more assistance but an armchair wrench.

 

If you cannot lock the wheel up when adjusting the star wheel at the cylinder than you have something put back together incorrectly.

 

Hard to think that when it drives just fine? I don't know how else it could be incorrectly assembled.

 

Maybe you think its driving fine because the front brakes do most of the work. Maybe the new drums are incorrect, did you match them up with the old ones?

 

Do the parking brake cables move freely, and return fully when the brake is released? You'll have to pull the drums to verify this. I'm now thinking that one or both cables is seized within the sheating and you are trying to adjust the brakes with the parking brake partly applied, even though the handle is released. Cable stretch is NOT your issue if the pull on your handle is normal, but something is clearly wrong if you can't lock up the brake with the star wheel adjuster.

 

So I just took everything apart and started back from square one...followed the book step by step again....seems to be working now...the hand brake is still not as sttong as what it was....but much stronger and I think with a hundred miles or so it will have more contact and be just as strong as it used to be. Thanks for the advice guys...sorry I don't have a gotcha culprit to tell you about....I'm thinking that I must not have counted the number of clicks properly the first time when I backed the star wheels? Oh well....good for now.

 

Good for you for going back in and checking things out, no reason to apologize, there may not be one smoking gun causing the issue.