Rear Drum Brake Wear - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

89 2wd · 01-18-2008, 02:01 AM

Was rotating my tires and took off the drum to check things. I noticed that the shoes are not completely touching the drum. Is this normal? It's the same thing on both sides where the frontmost shoe has more wear than the rear shoe. Here's pics from the passenger side:

MROLDV8 · 01-18-2008, 06:31 AM

Here's my guess. If the drums were turned when the shoes were put on, perhaps they were turned too much and are out of spec. In other words...the drum diameter is too big. Take them to a shop and have them measure them to see if they're within spec. I believe it's against the law to turn them too much. Or...Maybe the wrong shoes were installed. If it were me, I'd get new drums and shoes.

MR

TBayToyotaBoy · 01-18-2008, 12:37 PM

That's quite the variance in wear. It looks like the front-facing shoe is almost out of meat while the rear is almost unworn. I have far more experience with disc brakes, and when my rear caliper was sticking it caused this to happen with the pads. I wonder if a sticky wheel cylinder might produce this effect (although you said the shoes weren't touching or hanging-up on the drum)?

fredk · 01-18-2008, 01:37 PM

the front one stops the car, the rear one is the parking brake mostly, its call;ed a leading trailing brake, the bigger you make the drum the farther away the ends of the shoes will be from it, your drums have most likely been turned more than once, drums are cheap go get some new ones

89 2wd · 01-18-2008, 02:36 PM

hmm, thanks for the info. maybe it's time for a rear disk swap

The shoes were changed about 5K miles ago and I had the rotors inspected last week. The brake guy said it was fine and it had plenty of life left when he measured them, and he showed me too.

Braking seems fine on the car, although it does lock up in the rear under severe braking. Also when it rains the rears are first to lock up (passenger side rear first). I think its more of a weight transfer problem, not the tires because they're all in decent condition and have really good traction in the rain. BTW, my struts were replaced the same time as the shoes w/KYB's.

well thanks again for the help and now that im considering the rear disk conversion more, is it true that the parking brake on the disks are not as strong as the drum parking brakes? I like to induce a little rear traction loss when it rains and I can find a big parking lot

Doctor J · 01-18-2008, 06:42 PM

The pictures are superb!
The front shoes are tend to wear faster.
On my former wagon the RR drum was out of round resulting the dragging brake.

Kingdom934 · 01-19-2008, 07:43 PM

Quick question regarding drums: When and how often do you usually replace the shoes on the drums and/or the drums themselfs?

fredk · 01-19-2008, 09:13 PM

usually when the brake lining gets a penny thickness and drums are so cheap now you might as well put new drums on too

TBayToyotaBoy · 01-20-2008, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 89 2wd

hmm, thanks for the info. maybe it's time for a rear disk swap

well thanks again for the help and now that im considering the rear disk conversion more, is it true that the parking brake on the disks are not as strong as the drum parking brakes? I like to induce a little rear traction loss when it rains and I can find a big parking lot

Do the swap...you know you wanna...

The rear disc set-up actually has a drum-brake parking brake set-up. The parking brake drum is inside the rotor. It's an extremely annoying set-up (direct cable-to-caliper would be easier to service), but it's just as reliable as the regular rear-drum set-up.

89 2wd · 01-21-2008, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Do the swap...you know you wanna...

The rear disc set-up actually has a drum-brake parking brake set-up. The parking brake drum is inside the rotor. It's an extremely annoying set-up (direct cable-to-caliper would be easier to service), but it's just as reliable as the regular rear-drum set-up.

Yea those are a PITA, I remember doing the rear brakes on my mom's 96 LS400 and it took some pulling and swearing and hammering to get them off, but I did it

I'm prolly gonna wait until I find a pair with new(ish) rotors and pads at the junkyard because I don't wanna pay for the parts then have to end up replacing them. I'm kinda at the top of my budget for this car...

But i'll basically have all the options you can get on a camry except for the digital dash by then

Kingdom934 · 01-21-2008, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredk

usually when the brake lining gets a penny thickness and drums are so cheap now you might as well put new drums on too

Hmm...I should check mines. It has a grinding noise usually when it is cold/warm. Might be a pain to take off though since it's all sealed with rust...

TBayToyotaBoy · 01-21-2008, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kingdom934

Hmm...I should check mines. It has a grinding noise usually when it is cold/warm. Might be a pain to take off though since it's all sealed with rust...

If the drums are seized to the hubs with rust, you can use the small threaded holes in the drum to lever it off. Thread two 2" bolts into the holes on the drum and slowly tighten them, alternating from one to the other every two turns of the ratchet or so. If you have a steering wheel puller set, then you can use the bolts from that.

marc780 · 01-23-2008, 11:51 PM

Quote:

your drums have most likely been turned more than once, drums are cheap go get some new ones

I concur, the only way to make the shoes on some drums touch 100% is where the tech matches the shoes to the drums before installing shoes. And grinds the high spots a little to get full contact. This used to called "arcing" and was a fairly common procedure decades ago when most cars had drums on all 4 wheels. Here's a link that explains brake arcing, about halfway down the page.

http://www.vintagebrake.com/info.htm

Nowadays though, good luck finding a brake tech to do that today! Chances are the brake guy might not even know what you are talking about and if he did, he probably doesn't know how or doesnt have the equipment to do it in his shop.

From the pictures it looks like most of the shoe is getting contact, the other people are right it is/was probably no big deal unless you noticed a distinct loss in brake power. Change the shoes and drums and check it again in 5,000 miles. If it is still doing it maybe you need new wheel cylinders and brake springs and hardware kit (perhaps the wheel cylinders are gummed up and springs are worn out and weak, and not applying pressure evenly to the shoes).