Rear Drum Brakes - need advice - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

marragtop · 12-28-2007, 10:34 AM

The tire shop is telling me I need new rear pads (drum setup) on my 96 Camry. I've done drum brakes on other cars, but I haven't even pulled a rear wheel on the Camry yet. Are there any special tools, tips, tricks, ..etc that I need to know about? I searched this forum for a DIY thread on this, but could only find posts for front discs. Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

thanks,
mike

ghettosled · 12-28-2007, 10:58 AM

the drum brakes on the camry are pretty much like drum brakes on other cars. if you have replaced the shoes before on other cars (speaking of which, drum brakes dont use brake pads, they use shoes - this might explain why you are only finding info on disc brakes), for sure you can do it on the camry.

Kep · 12-28-2007, 12:23 PM

Camry drums (if you have the OEM ones) have two 10mm (I think) threaded holes to allow easy removal of the drums. Get two 10mm bolts about 3" long and then you can tighten the bolts alternately to press the drum off the shoes.

Kep

marragtop · 12-28-2007, 03:08 PM

Thanks, hopefully that won't be a problem since the tire store had the drums off. Keep those suggestions coming.....

***RningOnFumes*** · 12-28-2007, 03:38 PM

hmm...I just wack it with hammer until it comes off, lol.

I guess even though you have done drums before, put the whole rear end up, both wheels off. Work one side and use the other to help compare things when you're put things back together.

And one more thing, as opposed to disc brakes where you can usually get away with not bleeding the lines, with the rear you'll need to. I learned that the hard way and it freaked me out when I had no brakes after doing the drums lol

DarkMastyr · 12-28-2007, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kep

Camry drums (if you have the OEM ones) have two 10mm (I think) threaded holes to allow easy removal of the drums. Get two 10mm bolts about 3" long and then you can tighten the bolts alternately to press the drum off the shoes.

Kep

They're 8mm x 1.25 pitch.

Camryamnesty · 12-29-2007, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kep

Camry drums (if you have the OEM ones) have two 10mm (I think) threaded holes to allow easy removal of the drums. Get two 10mm bolts about 3" long and then you can tighten the bolts alternately to press the drum off the shoes.

Kep

We use 12mm bolts not sure of thread and pitch though

Kep · 12-29-2007, 10:09 AM

Taking both drums off to use one side as a guide to rebuild the other side is a good idea. However, remember not to bleed the brakes until both drums are back on.

Kep

ghettosled · 12-29-2007, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RningOnFumes

And one more thing, as opposed to disc brakes where you can usually get away with not bleeding the lines, with the rear you'll need to. I learned that the hard way and it freaked me out when I had no brakes after doing the drums lol

are you sure you meant to say to bleed the brakes??? i have never done this after doing any drum or shoe work.

redgtxdi · 12-30-2007, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghettosled

are you sure you meant to say to bleed the brakes??? i have never done this after doing any drum or shoe work.

Ghettosled is correct. There is no need to bleed the rear brakes unless you were to change out wheel cylinders or accidentally opened the bleed fitting. (neither of which should happen anyway).

You will probably need to adjust the shoes to allow their assembled diameter to be just barely less than the inner diameter of the drum itself. Drums aren't perfect & you just wanna get good & close. Every time you use the e-brake afterward, the brakes should self adjust as wear allows.

As for parts, I would suggest a brake tool kit from ebay or ??? as fighting w/ just a pair of needle nose pliers can result in some bloody knuckles if you're not careful.

***RningOnFumes*** · 12-30-2007, 10:10 AM

very well.

I just know when I did my drums last, I did need to bleed them.

Quicksilver300 · 12-30-2007, 10:25 AM

My drums slid right off last time I changed them. The hardest part for me was getting that big spring back on. Yes, this is the bloody part. Had to use two sets of pliers at once, lost two knuckles. lol
I just did one side at a time and used the manual., wasn't my first time doing drums though. They were a lot easier to do then my old Buick and Mercedes. Make sure you get the hardware kit and swap out all the springs and clips. Keep things organized, I slipped up for 10 min or so, trying to figure out where a specific spring was in my pile of new and old springs. lol
total time with beer consumption = one hour.

$50 roughly + 6pack of beer

Hajoca · 01-01-2008, 02:48 PM

Brake Spring pliers.

Yanpapa · 03-10-2008, 10:35 AM

Well, I'll be doing my rear drum brake work (shoe replacement) soon and wondering about what tools to get. I never worked on drum brake before so forgive me for asking some stupid questions but I need to see if I want to spend extra for sepcial tools.
From reading up on Haynes Manual, it seems only recommendation is "hold-down spring removal tools". Is Brake Spring Plier really needed or Vice Grip works just as fine? Why is return spring so hard to put it back on? Is it because of tight space or spring is simply very hard? Does C-washer easily removed and put it back? Do you recommend replacing springs and washer?
Any other suggestions or tool recommendations will be appliciated.
Thanks.

Hajoca · 03-10-2008, 12:06 PM

I would get or borrow the brake spring plier, it can hook and stretch the spring and slip it into place better than vice grip from my experience. the end handle with a concave groove fits the top post, and you just use it to slip the spring hook onto the post.

On the handle, there is the spring removal tool to take off the spring hook, I use it to compress the small coil spring and from the back turn the keeper post.