Rear brakes? Auto adjust?

Rear brakes on these trucks, are they auto adjust like a lot of others.

I remember a few posts people not liking the rear drum brakes and you needed to adjust them all the time.
Mine have been fine and working like they should and I tow a lot.
Most all the newer trucks that still use drums have a adjustment lever that works when backing or the Ebrake is used.
Anyone have info on these?

 

yes they auto adjust

if they are 'normal' and just need to take up slack:

roll backward a bit, engage e-brake to stop

repeat until adjusted

 

That was what I was thinking but several have said that they are a PITA to adjust.

I always back in at the house and work and always use the E brake so have not has a problem as of yet.

 

well, if the cables are stretched, then they are a PIA to adjust
you gotta climb under it and monkey with the cable hangers and take ups

but for normal cables, just pad wear,

a) if you use the parking brake daily, they will always auto adjust
as the brakes will never be more than one click out

b) if you use the parking brake rarely, the backup procedure should do it
backup procedure can reel in about 3+ clicks on the adjuster at a time, so
even with 12 clicks out, 4 or 5 reverse brake procedures can take up slack

if none of this works, time to pop the drums, take a looky and manually crank the adjuster

 

127.0.0.1 is quite correct. Everyone that adjusts their rear brakes do not know what they are talking about. They should only need to be adjusted once when the rear shoes are replaced.

 

Ok I JUST replaced my rear shoes and wheel cylinders on my taco, i'm kinda gettin different ways of adjusting them. one video i saw says start at zero point, then put the drum on and click just once than spin, click again than spin, over and over until i hear the shoes rubbing the drum. IS this the best way?

 

Alright well I just finished changing out my rear brakes and even installed new wheel cylinders. Like i said in previous post, i set the adjuster to zero and started adjusting than spinning till i heard the shoe rub the drum. oddly thought the drivers side didn't need adjusting

well i put everything back together and started the backward driving as said in other posts and kept pulling the ebrake, nothing was happening. i did it about 30 or 40x's! and the cable just pulls, thats all. truck doesnt even stop. Am i forgetting something?

Also, i did feel like i lost a lot of braking power just from my pedal, could this be because i swapped out both wheel cylinders? and now i have to bleed my system?

 

YES ... need to bleed rear brakes

 

Would that also affect why the parking brake is not engaging as well?

 

I would start by bleeding the rear brakes as highest priority . When you replaced the wheel cylinders , you must have lost all kinds of brake fluid . Now there is a bunch of air in the system .

For the E-brake , Its there should one of your wheel cylinders fail .With this said the e brake should work without the use of hydraulics .
The only issue I can see is when you use the parking brake without bleeding the wheel cylinders becuase the wheel cylinders are used as a pivot point and the e brake expects tension from the wheel cylinder push rods .If you have a bunch of air in the rear wheel cylinders , you may not get all the e braking , you normally would if the wheel cylinders were bled properly
Edit " after looking at the Tacoma drum design , your e brakes should work properly without the cylinders working .
Here is an image http://www.tacomahq.com/1668/toyota-tacoma-drum-brakes-last-long/

 

Awesome! Thanks so much for the info! So that's what' i'll do than.

 

So I went n bled my brakes today and my parking brake still is not engaging properly. Also my regular brakes seem to not be working very well either. This is all after changing my rear brakes, along with both wheel cylinders.

Also note, when i put the drivers side drum on, the shoes seemed to already be slightly rubbing against the drum so I left the star adjuster all the way tightened. Could this be the problem? If so, that wouldn't explain my regular brakes being so squishy, would it?

Any advice please?

 

Bleeding brakes will have zero effect on the parking brake. The parking brake is cable actuated.

Make sure you bleed your brakes in order of what cylinder is furthest from the master cylinder to closest. Also if there is a lspv (don't recall if first gens have them) that may need to be bled as well.

 

Yeah, I bled them in the correct order. Also i did bleed the lspv as well.
So the parking brake is not related to the hydraulic system at all? What about the star adjuster? i'm thinking if i go back in and adjust the rear brakes some more, that might help. i'll try this again tomorrow.

 

Also, i JUST realized im treading in the 2nd gen forums. Didn't even realize till you had mentioned 1st gen.

So is it safe to assume my truck is self/auto adjusting as well?

 

In my opinion the self adjusters are too loose. This will effect the hydraulic brakes.

I think you need to follow the field service manual which says:

ADJUST REAR DRUM BRAKE SHOE CLEARANCE
(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.

You probably do not need to adjust the cable if it was fine before you replaced the brakes. Do the above adjustment first, then adjust the parking brake handle if needed:

INSPECT PARKING BRAKE PEDAL TRAVEL (for Automatic Transmission)
(a) Slowly depress the parking brake pedal to the fully applied position, and count the number of clicks. Parking brake pedal travel at 300 N (31 kgf, 67 lbf): 7 to 10 clicks

INSPECT PARKING BRAKE LEVER TRAVEL (for Manual Transmission)
(a) Slowly pull the parking brake lever to the fully applied position, and count the number of clicks. Parking brake lever travel at 200 N (20 kgf, 45 lbf): 7 to 10 clicks

6. REMOVE CONSOLE UPPER REAR PANEL SUBASSEMBLY (for Automatic Transmission on Separate Seat Type) (See page IP-9)

7. REMOVE CONSOLE UPPER REAR PANEL SUBASSEMBLY (for Manual Transmission on Separate Seat
Type) (See page IP-9)

8. REMOVE CONSOLE BOX ASSEMBLY REAR (for Separate Seat Type) (See page IP-10)

9. REMOVE PARKING BRAKE CABLE JOINT PROTECTOR (for Bench Seat Type) (a) Slide the seat to the rearmost position.

(b) Pull up the floor carpet around the cable joint protector, along its seams.

(c) Remove the 3 bolts and parking brake cable joint protector.

ADJUST PARKING BRAKE PEDAL TRAVEL (for Automatic Transmission)
(a) Confirm that the parking brake pedal is released.

(b) Loosen the lock nut and turn the adjusting nut until the parking brake pedal travel is corrected to the specified value. 7 to 10 clicks

(c) Tighten the lock nut. Torque: 13 N*m (127 kgf*cm, 9 ft.*lbf)

(d) Check whether the parking brake drags or not.

(e) When operating the parking brake pedal, check that the parking brake pedal indicator light comes on.

ADJUST PARKING BRAKE LEVER TRAVEL (for Manual Transmission)
(a) Confirm that the parking brake lever is released.

(b) Loosen the lock nut and turn the adjusting nut until the parking brake lever travel is corrected to the specified value. 7 to 10 clicks

(c) Tighten the lock nut. Torque: 13 N*m (127 kgf*cm, 9 ft.*lbf)

(d) Check whether the parking brake drags or not.

(e) When operating the parking brake lever, check that the parking brake lever indicator light comes on.

 

You replaced your wheel cylinders and didn't bleed the system?

DO NOT DRIVE THE TRUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check your master cylinder, if it is empty, you pushed air into the ABS unit and it is going to need to go to the shop to be bled.

 

Since you're talking about a 1st gen....If you haven't already done it.....You might want to check the parking brake cable adjustment. Check all your linkages/cables.

Here's a writeup. My 96 tacoma needed adjustment.

http://www.lieblweb.com/ebrakeadjustment.html

 

Thanks guys and ladies for the responses, will report back later this evening when I get to work on my truck.

And as for driving the truck, i'm not driving it without proper working brakes, that would just be crazy haha, just testing the brakes in my garage and driveway

 

Just wanted to update the thread. Turned out to definitely be the star adjusters. Had to adjust them till the drum wouldn't spin than go back a few clicks. Did this on both sides and now I have perfectly working brakes. Thanks all for your advice.