3rd & 4th Generation (1992–1996 & 1997–2001)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 1992-1996 & 1997-2001
Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving America's favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
ok well i might be crazy or just stupid but i heard that you can tighten your e brake by pulling the e brake and driving your car backwards. kind of like winding it back up. idk. my friend said it could work and that his brother did to is gtp. if thats true i guess im not doing it right because my e brake sucks. any ideas on how to tighten your e brake?
I think what you really want to do is to adjust your rear brakes. You can take up the slack in your emergency brake but that would involve an adjustment on the cable itself not by just backing up and using the emergency brake. You rear brakes probably adjust by going in reverse and hitting the brakes. If rears are too far out of adjustment you might not be able to get them to adjust enough.
My emergency brake handle was going way up and I ended up pulling the rear drums and adjusting the star wheel to make the shoes closer to the drum. It wasn't hard and made a huge difference in braking and in how much the e-brake handle goes up.
But don't go ripping up your handbrake while reversing, cause chances are your adjuster is not the problem. Your brake cable could be too loose or your brakes shoes too worn. Get it looked at.
I had a 2000 Camry I4 and the drum parking brake is supposed to be self adjusting, but on my car it did not really work. There is a ratchet on the back on the drum that you can adjust to adjust the brake.
After about 70000 miles or so, the brake shoes were still like new so they really weren't being used all that much if at all...After adjustment, it only took about 3 or 4 clicks to keep the car in place while it took 7 to 9 previously. The brake pedal feel also became a bit firmer.
The self adjuster for your Camry's (and most Japanese cars for that matter) rear drum brakes works off of the hand emergency brake. That's why it is a good idea to use the emergency brake all the time when the car is parked. That said, the self adjusters in every Camry I have owned and worked on simply do not work that well. I always had to adjust them manually about every 5000-6000 miles using the star adjuster as touringcamry mentioned. This will also make your emergency brake work and hold better, and you will notice the difference in the foot pedal height and feel.
The old trick of baking up to let the self adjusters work properly is for the type of self adjusters used on older American cars. They may still be used today, but I haven't worked on one in many years, so I can't say for certain.
The self adjuster for your Camry's (and most Japanese cars for that matter) rear drum brakes works off of the hand emergency brake. That's why it is a good idea to use the emergency brake all the time when the car is parked. That said, the self adjusters in every Camry I have owned and worked on simply do not work that well. I always had to adjust them manually about every 5000-6000 miles using the star adjuster as touringcamry mentioned. This will also make your emergency brake work and hold better, and you will notice the difference in the foot pedal height and feel.
The old trick of baking up to let the self adjusters work properly is for the type of self adjusters used on older American cars. They may still be used today, but I haven't worked on one in many years, so I can't say for certain.
Mike
hey how do you adjust it?? could you put a pic or two on how to
hey how do you adjust it?? could you put a pic or two on how to
Sorry, I can't take a picture, since I no longer own a Camry with rear drum brakes. My 98 was totaled in an accident about 16 months ago. I can give you a quick verbal description of how it is done, but I think this is something you would be better leaving to a professional, since too little adjustment of the rear shoes to the drum will result in longer brake pedal travel when the brakes are applied. Too much adjustment will result in brakes that are constantly applying pressure to the rear drums and can cause the rears to overheat and possibly cause the brake fluid to boil. Boiling brake fluid can result in no brakes when you step on the pedal. If you are still willing to try this here's how to do it:
Park the car with the emergency brake off. Chock the front wheels so the car can not roll in either direction. Jack up the rear of the car and support it safely on jackstands. Remove both rear tire/wheel assemblies. Hand tighten 2 of the lug nuts back on each of the drums. On each drum you will see a rubber disc about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. That disc will have a slot in it so you can remove it easily with a slotted screwdriver exposing a hole in the drum. Remove that rubber disc and rotate the drum to positon the hole at either 11:00 or 1:00 oclock (near the top). Each wheel is different. Shine a small light in to the hole through the drum until you see a star-toothed wheel. Like I mentioned before, the star-toothed wheel may be at 11:00 or it may be at 1:00 oclock. Now take a slotted screwdriver and while spinning the drum, adjust that star-toothed wheel either up or down. One way will decrease the brake shoe to drum clearance and the other will increase it. You will have to determine yourself through trial and error which way decreases and which way increases the clearance. Most likely you want to decrease the clearance. This is somewhat of a trial and error method. You should feel a slight drag on the drum when adjusted properly. I heard it once described as you should be able to spin the drum with moderate force and have it rotate 3 times before coming to a stop. That's why I can say this is really easy, but it is best to have some experience of the proper amount of drag. Perhaps you can have a friend who has done this before help you. When done, replace the little rubber disc in the hole in the drum. Then remove the 2 lug nuts and reinstall the tire/wheel combination on each side. Lower the car and take it for a ride. Note the brake pedal height. If you have adjusted the shoe to drum clearance properly you will have less pedal travel (a higher pedal).
correct me if I'm wrong, but dont you just turn the wheel the only way you can. It's a ratchet so really the screw driver will only hook onto it in one direction. Thus you cannot turn it the wrong way, otherwise it wouldn't be a ratchet.
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^^ well no the pnly reason its a "ratchet" when the drum is on is because there is a little metal piece that holds the star-wheel in place...if u take the drum off u can see the metal "shi" comin off of one of the shoes and holding a little flat point onto the star wheel...to reverse the spin of the adjuster u just hold the metal shim aways from the wheel with pliers or a screwdriver and spin the wheel the other way..
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