Parking Break Adjustment

So I think on this 07 you have not pulled the rear drums off to inspect.
If true and shoes are almost gone, drums worn down, and parking brake adjuster never touched then of course the parking brake will not hold/work correctly.
Post #2 gave you the info and also to get the drums off you may have to back off the adjuster wheel reached thru the oval hole behind the wheel on diff side.
The drums usually have 2 threaded holes to screw bolts in to help get the drum off.
All your springs and hardware may be weak if original and the shoes have pivots on them and bottom one is usually rusted solid so parking brake level cannot move the shoes to park against the drums. Attached may help.
Rear Brake Replacement Tips | Tacoma World

 

Accurate. I have not yet pulled the drums off.

I appreciate this.... I'm starting to feel the rear brake job is inevitable. I'm not screwing around if it turns into hours of fighting rusty drums off the truck... if I have to pull the drums, I'm doing it with new drums, shoes and a hardware kit - at a minimum - sitting next to me... lolol. I'm no stranger to rusty New England vehicles....

 

I just did a rear brake shoe replacement, on both sides obviously, but found an issue I didn't know I had. I'm about 129k on my 2003 xtrcab. The bell crank on the passenger side was locked/frozen in the full pull or engaged position. No issues on the driver side. When I had it up on jack stands I couldn't move the wheel, well maybe an inch with all my muscles engaged. Any way I'm in desert climate Colorado plains. I sprayed inside from both sides with penetrant pBlaster and worked on that side first with the shoe replace etc. As part of the shoe replace you have to take out the park brake cable extension that links the bell crank to the e brake lever on the front shoe. I Watched videos on people replacing the bell crank. I wasn't having it. SO I just used a small hammer and tapped it back and forth. Little by little it moved until it finally snapped open under its own spring tension. Then I worked it to death back and forth full open full closed. Then applied a heavy duty PTFE High temp boat marine grease inside under the pivot boot of the bell crank.

When I put the new shoes on I used the bell crank by hand with the link cable engaged to move the e brake and the star lock lever, turning the star until the shoe was dragging slightly on the wheel drum. I could get about one good rotation maybe 3/4 after the tire was back on. Then adjusted the bell crank lock nut according to manual specs.

Every time I do a maintenance job on my truck I find something I didn't expect to deal with and then fix that too. Now I use my park brake everyday to keep it from freezing and to keep the star washer moving as it is supposed to.

I watched South Main Auto on some truck, can't remember, where he just pushed as hard as he could on the main brake pedal and it released the parking brake. That guy is a gold mine of info. I figure he must be a specialist as he seems to only get the vehicles no one else can solve, then he makes those people look stupid as he methodically uses logic to figure it out.