Rear End Locking Up - Parking Break

[tjyoder]

I also posted this on Toyota Nation - Please respond if you have experienced this problem!!!

I am being screwed by the dealer and I am looking for help on documenting this problem in other Toyota Trucks.

We have a 2005 Tacoma, 4 dr, TRD, Manual. We go to the lake regularly. When the truck was less than a year old after backing the boat into the water the rear end would lock up - it changes sides but either the rear left or rear right wheel wouldn't spin. Originally with some "coersion" it would pop loose. It only happened when the emergency break was engaged. It didn't do it regularly enough to take it to the dealer right away - compounded by the difficulty of being a vehicle short in order to do so. It finally go to the point where we would have to take the tire off, tap the drum, and then it would release. Because of this issue we purchased the extended warranty in the spring of 2008.

It finally got bad enough that we took it into the dealer in May 2009. They couldn't find anything wrong, cleaned out the emergency break and said it was on file and if it continued they could do more now they have a record of it. Of course first time back to the lake it seized up.

Last Sunday it seized when trying to back the boat into the boat barn. It ended up breaking the pin in the rear differential - breaking off 4 teeth. We of course thought - no problem its under warranty (other than the fact we were an hour from home with a broken vehicle).

Toyota is now stating that a 3" lift we put on in 2009 was the cause of the breakage and its not covered under warranty. They originally said it was the oversized tires, but then verified those were within spec - and now have shifted the blame on the lift. I have seen threads of other people who have had this issue (not to this extreme), and I would appreciate any documentation I can get from you. If you could provide your vehicle information, whether it has a lift or oversized tires, and when and what happened when the rear end locked up. Did you take it to the dealer? What did the dealer do?

The frustrating thing is that this problem was occurring for years prior to the lift being installed - but the dealer will use any excuse they can to get out of warranty work.

[lelandstanford]

Tacoma's dual-mode drum brake makes a big clunk and does not release quickly vs typical domestic floating-type drum brake.

I have never test either brake in water for their disengagement.

Did the dealer lube the brakes after cleaning?

[briq4]

07 Tacoma Accesss cab V-6 4x4 stock... went wheelin at Rausch Creek and stopped on a trail, suspension was pretty extened, put the park brake on, got out talked our plan of attack over to my buddy, got back in the truck and it would NOT move... just the left wheel spun. I have the TRD Sport so it's a limited slip diff. It took some SERIOUS bangs from forward to reverse to get it to unlock. I can see how you could damage something but back where we were, there was NO WAY a tow truck could get to us! Design flaw? I'll just put it in reverse and shut off the engine from now on! I mentioned it ot the dealer last time I was in and they said it's a common thing and a couple rocks back and forth should release it... So they are aware of some sort of issue.

[Pavilion]

Mine even did it after washing and putting in the garage right away and not driving it to use the brakes or whatever to dry it out. I could not get it to go forward, but after shifting to reverse it moved and no problem again, except vehicle has not been driven in wet weather or washed and parked without driving right away. So after washing I will drive around for a bit to make sure things dry out, because the first thing happens when you go to the dealer is they tell you "If we cannot recreate the problem we can not fix it", plus the nearest dealership is 21 miles away.

[TheKneebiter]

Washed my truck a few weeks ago. TRD sport. left it where it sat for 2 days. Got in and it would not move. Gave it gas and the left whel pulled me down the driveway while the right tire skid down the driveway. Rocked it from reverse to drive a few times and clunk it released. I will never leave it parked after washing again.

[tjyoder]

I appreciate the input. The one thing I notice is that everyone works around this issue rather than taking it to the dealer to get it addressed - they just quit using the e-brake. I know we lived with it for 4 years until it finally snapped the ring and pinion. Unfortunately we have a manual transmission - making us more reliant on the e-brake than an automatic transmission is. We would have the truck driver stay in the vehicle during launching the boat while the boat driver dealt with everything else. We didn't want to turn off the truck incase a wave sent water up the exhaust pipe.

I recommend to everyone that they at least get it on record with the dealer that this is an issue - especially if you want it to be covered under warranty.

[tjyoder]

Could anyone provide me a phone number and contact name for a Toyota Dealership who has addressed this issue and admits that it really occurs??!?

Thanks!

[GS-RON]

I don't know of a dealer that has delt with this issue and as a tech don't know that they will.

Your Taco has drum (cheap way out for Toyota) brakes in the rear which are not sealed against water entry. Next time you wash your truck watch the front discs and see how fast they develope surface rust. Your drums are doing the same thing every time you get them wet and the shoes are sticking to them. To compound the problem the drums are cooling off quickly when dunked and shrinking a bit. This makes the park brake even tighter and it's harder for the springs to retract the shoes. I have never had a vehicle with drum brakes NOT do this.

I'd bring a chunk of 4X4 with me and have your passenger throw it behind the rear wheel while on the ramp and leave the park brake off. Other than not backing so far into the water I don't have a better solution, sorry....... RON

PS ALWAYS drive your truck after a wash to get some heat in the brakes and such. This will dry it all out and save you a lot of grief in the future. It's already warm when you drive in the rain so this isn't an issue.

[the.phantom]

I have never had a vehicle with drum brakes NOT do this.

think you might be a bit strong on that !

i've been driving for a few years and go back to mechanical brakes ( not juice ones)

and have pulled a boat or two out of the water and never had trouble.

have the drum brakes been checked and lubed and emergency brake adjusted?
if so then i would think about maybe the shoe material ( disk brakes have pads drums have shoes)

the shoe material could expand? but for the drums to "weld up" in a few hours sure seems strange to me. maybe try another brand of shoes?

don't know if there is any re-routing of the e-brake on a lift, but think they are stretching it to blame the lift myself.
are they just using a cable to pull a shoe or playing some game with the slave cylinder? if playing with the slave cylinder they could be multiplying the mech advantage and setting the shoe way too hard?

[iamdamone]

I was in Northern Alberta during December in 2008 when mine froze-up. I had been out driving with the Mrs, down some snowpacked backroads, and after getting back to the parents place, I used the E-Brake and had the same issue 3 hours later; 1 wheel stuck.

I got it towed to the brother-in-laws shop, hit it with some hot water and it freed itself. The guys at the stealership in Edmonton pulled the drum apart and cleaned it up for me as well as lubed the E-Brake cable.

I think it would be a good personal maintenance item to pull the drums apart every so often and give them a cleaning. Sucks to have to do this.

I now carry a butane torch in my truck for future issues. It wouldn't do me any good to be 50 KM away from civilization w/o Cell Service and -40 Celcius ...

[winternova]

Hi I am from California - It is storming here - Anyway,
I drive an 06 Toy Tacoma 4x4 - One my way to work I hydroplaned through a flooded street not realizing how deep the water was... After that I decided to turn on 4X4 for the rest of the way to work - By the time I got into my work parking lot just 5 miles later I notice something was wrong every time I tried to turn the truck wouldn't go - The engine was fine it wasn't stalling...

So I parked it and went into work called the dealer and they want me to bring it in -

My truck is lifted 3 inches and has oversized tires - I spend the extra money for the Platinum warrenty package so I am hoping that whatever is wrong will be covered -

On my lunch break I went out and got it into two wheel drive and it seems fine now - Does this seem like your situation or am I off?

[GS-RON]

Originally Posted by winternova

Hi I am from California - It is storming here - Anyway,
I drive an 06 Toy Tacoma 4x4 - One my way to work I hydroplaned through a flooded street not realizing how deep the water was... After that I decided to turn on 4X4 for the rest of the way to work - By the time I got into my work parking lot just 5 miles later I notice something was wrong every time I tried to turn the truck wouldn't go - The engine was fine it wasn't stalling...

So I parked it and went into work called the dealer and they want me to bring it in -

My truck is lifted 3 inches and has oversized tires - I spend the extra money for the Platinum warrenty package so I am hoping that whatever is wrong will be covered -

On my lunch break I went out and got it into two wheel drive and it seems fine now - Does this seem like your situation or am I off?

Your way off....