The parking brake on my '04 Tundra is no longer holding. Is it possible to adjust the brake shoes at the rear wheels to fix this problem? Also, will this tighten the parking brake pedal (currently has a lot of travel)?

To answer your question, yes to both. But and there is always a but, if you don't know what condition your rear brakes are you should pull the drums and inspect them first. Make sure the bell cranks are free and clean out all the dust.
Mike

yes you can adjust them. there is a rubber plug on the back side of the backing plate, on the top. take that off and you can get a flathead screwdriver up there and adjust them. or you can jack up your rear wheels and do it that way also. with the rear brakes properly adjusted, your truck will stop much better and you front pads will not prematurely wear out.

i'm sure someone here has had a write up on adjusting the rear brakes, search...

Aren't the rear brake drums self adjusting? Thought they all were nowadays. Don't you just set your parking brake (kind of hard) then put the truck in reverse and give a little gas. Repeat as necessary. Torquing the rear drums like this in reverse moves that adjustment sprocket just as one use to do manually with a flat head screw driver.

If this procedure doesn't work, then take apart the drums and clean them well. Maybe the auto adjustment clip that goes over the sprocket is all gunked up.:confused:

I'm no expert on rear drums or brakes and don't claim to know everything... but I also have NEVER paid anyone to do a brake job for me. I've always managed to replace them myself sense I was 16, and I've never had to "adjust" my rear drums any other way than what I've listed above. Now my electric brakes on my camper are another story... They have to be manually adjusted with the flat tip screw driver method mentioned by integraGSR.:tu:

All you gotta do is back up and bring the truck to a stop using the emergency brake. Repeat it maybe a half dozen times and see if that doesn't do the trick. Good luck, Mate. Let us know how it goes.
:thumb:

All you gotta do is back up and bring the truck to a stop using the emergency brake. Repeat it maybe a half dozen times and see if that doesn't do the trick. Good luck, Mate. Let us know how it goes.
:thumb:

If his brakes are so far out of adjustment that the parking brake isn't holding, I am not thinking that adjusting them by using the parking brake is going to work.

I would definitely recommend removing the drums and cleaning everything well, and then adjusting the shoes so that they drag just a little as the drum is reinstalled. If you use this method, it is impossible to over adjust the brakes because the drum won't go back on if the shoes are too tight.

I think there is a lot of misinformation in this thread regarding backing up.

Howstuffworks has an interesting article and good animations on how the drum brakes work.

HowStuffWorks "How Drum Brakes Work" (http://auto.howstuffworks.com/drum-brake2.htm)
HowStuffWorks "How Drum Brakes Work" (http://auto.howstuffworks.com/drum-brake1.htm)


I'm in the process of replacing the shoes and axle seals on mine, because mine were coated with oil, not worn out or poorly adjusted..

The Toyota Tundra Brakes are not the same as the ones on Howstuffworks.

The Tundra drum brakes have the adjuster at the top of the shoes with the cylinder, and the bottom of the shoes are fixed on pins that don't move like the Howstuffworks illustration.

The adjuster on the Tundra only gets advanced when you use the E-Brake. The Howstuffworks illustration requires that you backup to adjust them.

The advantage to the Howstuffworks style of brakes is that you don't use more fluid in the cylinder as the shoes wear. The Tundra brakes will use more and more brake fluid as the shoes wear.

Last week I took off my drums and moved the adjuster wheel all the way loose. Then put the drums back on. I didn't ratchet it up using the ebrake, I just went around the block. When I'd step on the brake the petal would go to the floor as the fluid was filling up in the cylinder, then I'd have to press it again to build up any pressure in the brake system to get the brakes to engage. Then when I released the petal, the rear shoes would compress all the fluid out of the cylindar with the springs that pull shoes together. That fluid goes back into the fluid cup above the master cylindar. The springs basically pull the shoes into the cylindar until it hits the adjusters stops. Thats why you want to use the adjuster even if it isn't really saving you the brake fluid level fluctuations like the howstuffworks style of brakes. If you didn't have the adjuster on the Tundra brakes, you'd have to pump the brakes every time you want to stop.

Then I had to pump the E-brake 30 times until the clicking stopped. Roll down the window and you can hear it.. I would pump it without bringing the petal all the way back so that I could actually pump it without it locking then needing to be unlocked, etc..




-Jeff

Very good Jeff. Your seal leaking issue is also another reason you want to take a look at your brakes every so often. If you had caught the leak early enough you may have saved your shoes.
What you don't know can hurt you, or at lest your wallet.
Inspect your brakes at lest once a year.
Mike

So, from what I have been gathering, using the Emergency Brake every so often will adjust the drum brakes, correct?

The answer is YES.

Using the parking brakes might keep them adjusted but it's not good enough. The only way to get them to where they really help braking is to manually adjust them. Search in the brake forum on how to properly adjust rear brakes.

I agree with Icon. I adjusted them with the parking brake for the first year, but noticed a big difference when I started adjusting them every oil change. It doesn't take long and saves on your front pads.

Very good Jeff. Your seal leaking issue is also another reason you want to take a look at your brakes every so often. If you had caught the leak early enough you may have saved your shoes.
What you don't know can hurt you, or at lest your wallet.
Inspect your brakes at lest once a year.
Mike

Mike,

In doing the manual drum brake adjustments... how do you know how many "clicks" to go so it is within proper range but not so tight that you risk the shoes rubbing, creating heat, and warping the drums? Is there a 'rule-of-thumb' one can go by, i.e. the wheels should spin around 1/2 turn, 1/4 turn, etc when jacked up and spun by hand?

(I read all of your awesome brake posts closely and WANT to be able to do this myself, but...)

Thanks!

Duffy

Mike,

In doing the manual drum brake adjustments... how do you know how many "clicks" to go so it is within proper range but not so tight that you risk the shoes rubbing, creating heat, and warping the drums? Is there a 'rule-of-thumb' one can go by, i.e. the wheels should spin around 1/2 turn, 1/4 turn, etc when jacked up and spun by hand?

(I read all of your awesome brake posts closely and WANT to be able to do this myself, but...)

Thanks!

Duffy

I jack up the rear of the truck, adjust the brakes, spin the tire, adjust a little more, etc. You can tell when the shoes start to drag on the drum.

It is best to do it with the wheel on. This way you can get a good feel for it. Turn the star wheel one click at a time spinning the wheel in between and feeling for the slightest drag. Once you feel this drag stop. Most backing plates also have a small inspection hole that has a plug. You might find it help full to look through this hole and watch how close the shoes get.
Over adjusting is bad and can warp the drums, adjusting these things down is not easy. So, be careful and do it slowly. You'll soon get the hang of it.
Mike

Mevang is 100% correct. To aid in performing the adjustment you can save yourself some aggrivation by buying a special brake adjusting tool at an auto parts store or simply make your own by bending a flat-head screwdriver to the appropriate angle(about 80 degrees) to get at the star adjuster easier. Also helps to use a thin bladed screwdriver since the notches in the star adjuster's are pretty thin.

So how long do drum brakes typically last? Perhaps I need to replace the pads as opposed to adjusting them? Of course I'll inspect them first before buying new ones. Brakes have 57k on them.

So how long do drum brakes typically last? Perhaps I need to replace the pads as opposed to adjusting them? Of course I'll inspect them first before buying new ones. Brakes have 57k on them.

I'm not sure about Tundra's, but I've got a couple of Chevy 1500's that have over 180K miles and are still on the original set of shoes. They don't wear out near as fast as the front pads do.

Cool. So my rear shoes are most definitely in good shape with only 56k. Thanks.

This is why I believe most Automatic Tundras run into brake problems. They re-made the first brakes larger, what they could have done is put a huge sticker that said if you don't set your e-brake you are going to get a huge shock. With the manual you set the parking brake every stop and this keeps your rear shoes correctly adjusted. I have 134K on my tundra and still have over 50 percent of the front pads left. Typically shoes every other pad change. Set those e-brakes to keep your rear shoes adjusted, safer stops and keeps your fronts from over heating and wearing out

this might help and then again it might not :D pg BR14
pedal has adjustment also but brakes require adjustment as well!:nod:

This past Saturday morning, I took the time to just jack up one of my rear wheels, took the rubber plug that leads to the star adjuster, and using a bicycle-tire-spoon, kept spinning the adjuster until I could feel a slight drag on the wheel. I did make sure to chock the front tires and put the truck in Neutral. I did both wheels and when I pushed on the Emergency-Brake, it was noticeably stiffer and when I drove the truck, the brakes were definitely more powerful. Boy was I thrilled about this. I changed out my front pads at 53,000 miles in anticipation of a 1,500 mile drive to FL last May, then to tow a 6,000 lb boat 1,600 miles back to MA, and those pads had at least 10-20,000 miles left on them. A quick visual check of my front pads now, after some 35,000 miles or so, my front pads are still good.

Thanks again for the tip on how to quickly adjust the rear drum brakes, it is quite easy. Jacking up the wheel is about the only hard part if it is hard at all.

Thanks to everyone for the info did mine tday and works great now. But side not dont forget to put back into park before letting down off jack had to catch the truck down the driveway! LOL