Rear drum brake locking up after getting wet

Truck lives in Texas by the way

 

From the manual lol.

"The parking brake may freeze up, preventing it from beingreleased. If the vehicle is parked without setting the parking brake,make sure to block the wheels."

 

well thats reassuring.
"The engine may shut off while driving on the highway, in the event of a collision make sure you are wearing your seatbelt"

 

That looks pretty extreme and beyond one drum freezing up from rust.
Just watching the OPs vid I would think it’s a traction control malfunction of some sort.
Isn’t the vscc described as applying braking to wheels that are slipping?

I really hate drum brakes.

 

This is from one of the stickies explaining the different modes. It sure sounds like this gone awry.

 

Well the passenger rear of my 2017 TRD off road locked solid today.

Washed the truck in the warm sunny afternoon here in FL. After wash I pulled the truck to the end of the driveway and parked it, engaging the parking brake.
Continued working on things in the garage for a couple hours. The wife and I were going to leave for dinner and truck wouldn’t budge. 4Hi, 4Low. Engage/ disengage parking brake, try to pull forward/ reverse. Drug that tire and marked the hell out of the drive way for about 4-5ft. Just like posted video.
Had to jack up the ass end, remove the tire and tapped around it a couple times with a small sledge. When that drum released it rotated counter clock wise about 20-30 degrees, signs of brake dust falling while tapping drum with sledge. Test spun the drum, mounted up the tire, lowered it down & torqued it to spec. Had the wife slowly back truck while I listen for any crunching of parts in the drum. None heard so I jumped in it and took it for a test drive and function check. Even tested a slow e brake stop. No issues once free spinning. Going to remove drum in the morning and clean the hell out of it.
Truck is just shy of 29K miles and I have never had a brake issue even while I was working in Colorado during the winter storms in October.
Don't see the need yet to have dealer look at it yet. Disappointing that some of us are experiencing this after a wash. Hopefully its just dust accumulating in the drum and I hope fully cleaning will resolve.

@MSR2534 Post up what your dealer says when you pick up your truck!
Thanks and GL

 

I'd bring it it in if only for documenting the issue. IF you still have the issue later you can use this to try and get reimbursed for road service/tow, etc. IT also flags Toyota of yet another complaint.

Drum brakes have been around for a long time and the designs have been proven. Toyota need to find if the problem is Parking brake/cable/connection related or Drum brake design issues (or both?). IT may possibly be something with water drainage or even airflow in the drum during travel to "blow out" brake dust, metal drum dust, etc. so it does not "gunk up" when getting slightly wet. To me Toyota really need to fix this - JMO

 

I’m curious if somehow the rear shoes are installed backwards, there is leading and rearward shoe.

 

Good Point - IS this happening on only one side of all the Tacos with this issue??

 

The problem is water getting inside the drums after washing. It has nothing to do with the parking brake cable, traction control, VSC, below freezing temperatures or anything else. The water somehow causes the pad to "stick" to the drum.The type of material used for the pad might have something to do with it.

I have pulled my drums after washing and have seen the water inside the drums. Just did it yesterday and found water in the right drum but not the left.

I wash my truck before I work on it and I usually pull the drums to check the pads as part of my oil change service so that's how I know.

 

Jeesh! Stop using logic here! There is witchcraft and manufacturers problems here! Ignore the fact that is has happened to other vehicles and other manufacturers. We need to blame Toyota and call out their build quality, material and product issues rather than use logic!

 

Correct. It looked like he was already driving down the highway. I agreee this shouldnt happen once going down the road, yes if they get wet and you apply the brake to a hot drum they can temporarily stick but to do that going down the road, something is most definitely wrong.

 

does this only happen with people who apply their parking brake on a daily basis?

 

OP, did the dealer say anything?

I live in NH and this is the 3rd winter with my truck and have never had this happen. Even after car wash, etc..

 

I had this issue before on my old 2005 4runner, the rear disc will get stock after washing it and let it sit for a while. I took it to my mechanic several times but we never found what cause the problem...

 

The key here is to take it for a short drive after washing the truck to get the majority of the moisture out or up to a warm temp to evap the moisture

As far as I can tell this has only happened to me when applying the parking brake out of habit

 

No rhyme or reason from what I can tell.
I use mine every time I park. Wet, dry, hot cold...it just works.

I also clean, check and lube my drums every oil change...
Initially, I found the star adjuster not to be backed off the correct amount and in typical Toyota fashion, lacked lube.

 

I have had this issue with every vehicle I have owned that has rear drum brakes. The only one that did not have this problem was an old 1970 Firebird Formula 400. My other 3 trucks had this issue, and 2 cars. Not as severe as totally locked up, but always very sticky once they get wet such as from a car wash or deep water hole. I have for the past 35 years been in the habit of always taking my vehicles for a good drive after a car wash and using the brakes a lot to dry them up.

 

This happens to my truck every time I wash it, which is often. It is the dead of winter (and well below freezing here) but the brakes are definitly sticking. Truck is brand new, like 1000 miles on it.

 

Does this happen with a low mileage "new" truck - or otherwise stated - only with a good amount of wear on the brakes/drum ??