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.
I completed this procedure at 212,000 km on my 1996 Camry 2.2L DX automatic with rear drum brakes. Note that the drums, shoes and brake hardware were previously replaced 203,000 km. However, I have recently observed that the parking brake lever no longer has any resistance in the lowest position. It is as if the cable has no tension when the lever is at its lowest position.
Upon further investigation, I found that the rear shoes were dragging and that both rear cables were binding. I determined that the cables were getting stuck when pulled up and not returning to the home position.
After replacing the cables, I cut the old ones apart to see where the cables were getting hung up and found that it was at the point where the cable passes through the “white metal” part that is bolted to backing plate. I suspect that the “white metal” part is corroded inside and this eventually caused the cable to seize. The brake cables are the original cables that came with the car.
Disclaimer
Use this guide at your own risk! I assume no responsibility for any damage to your vehicle or personal injury as a result of following this guide. Any comments to improve the procedure will be gratefully received and incorporated where possible.
Time Required
It took me 8 hours from start to finish, including time to take photos and make notes. It is very tight and uncomfortable, crawling under the car to do this job. If I had the car on a hoist, I estimate that the time for this job would be cut in half. Also, if the bolts had not all snapped due to rust, I bet I could shave and additional 1-2 hours off of this job.
Parts:
a) Left and Right Brake Cables ($118 CDN – Parts Source)
Shop Supplies:
a) Spray can of Brake Cleaner ($6 CDN – Parts Source)
b) Anti-seize compound
c) Stainless steel replacement bolts
Special Tools:
a) Brake hold down spring removal tool ($12 CDN – Parts Source)
Other:
I borrowed a creeper to get under the car.
Total = $136 (taxes included)
An exploded view of rear drum brake assembly.
Let's get started...
1. Loosen lug nuts on rear wheels. Block front tires. Raise and support rear of car on jack stands. Try to get the rear as high as possible, as it will be very tight working under the car. I like to use redundant jack stands on both sides when I am crawling under the car. Remove the right rear wheel. Release the park (emergency) brake. A lot of rust and brake dust will fall on the concrete during this procedure. It is recommended to place a large sheet of cardboard under the wheel before proceeding.
2. Pry the rubber inspection hole plug out with a slot screwdriver.
3a. With a wax pencil, mark a line from the drum to the hub on both sides. This will be used later on to align the hub with the drum.
3b. Rotate the right (passenger side) brake drum so the inspection hole is approximately at the 11 o-clock position. On the left (driver side), the inspection hole needs to be at the 1 o-clock position. The remainder of this procedure will focus on the right. The drum was difficult to turn by hand, so I installed two wheel nuts and used a 2x2 piece of wood to rotate the drum.
4. Try to pull the drum off. If is it difficult to pull off (both of mine were!), you may need to retract the brake shoes. It is not too difficult to do if you know how to do it. I fiddled for 10 minutes on the first one, but after that I learned how it works, it was quite easy. Align the inspection hole to the 11 o-clock position, and shine a small flashlight in the hole. You will see the automatic adjusting lever arm and a star wheel. With a narrow slot screw driver, wedge the lever arm upward. This will allow the star wheel to rotate freely. With the other slot screwdriver move the outside diameter of the star wheel upward seven or eight times. This should retract the brake shoes enough to allow the drum to easily slide off.
5. To avoid inhalation of brake dust which is hazardous to your health, it is recommended to put on a dust mask before removing the drum. Remove the drum and set aside. Before removing anything, place an old paint tray under the drum assembly and clean the entire brake assembly with a spray can of brake cleaner. Wear a mask as the spray, even though it is wet, will kick up some brake dust. Allow the brake assembly to dry (it evaporates fairly quickly) before proceeding.
6. I took a close up photo of the adjuster lever (green arrow) and star wheel (red arrow) to make it easier to understand how they work. Insert the screw driver (blue arrow) on the right hand side in order to wedge the lever upward. This will allow room on the left hand side to use a second screwdriver to move the star wheel.
7. Remove the brake return spring using a pair of vice grips. Note that both ends of the brake return spring fit into an elongated opening in the brake shoes. The ends of this spring do NOT fit into any of the numerous round holes in the brake shoes.
8. Depress the hold down spring on the front shoe and twist to release. I found it necessary to hold the pin from behind the backing plate when doing this. I used a “brake hold down spring removal tool but you can also use a needle nose pliers in a pinch.
9. Remove the shoe hold down spring, cups and pin.
10. Remove the front shoe from the backing plate and unhook the anchor spring from the end of the shoe.
11. Remove the hold down spring from the rear shoe. Remove the shoe hold down spring, cups and pin.
12. Remove the rear shoe and adjuster assembly from the backing plate.
13. Disconnect the brake cable from the rear shoe and adjuster assembly.
14. Remove the two bolts (10mm socket) securing the brake cable to the backing plate. Both of mine snapped off like pretzels. The new brake cable did not come with new bolts. I think the bolts are M6x1 and maybe about 14mm long. I re-tapped the brake cables holders to ¼-20NC and used some stainless steel bolts that I already had on hand.
15. Remove the center console in order to access the parking brake cable tension adjuster. Using a slot screwdriver, carefully pry up on the rear edge of the shift bezel, then move it out of the way.
16. Remove the two Philips screws (circled in red) securing the front of the center console.
17. Remove the two bolts (circled in red) securing the back of the center console (12mm).
18. Set the center console aside.
19. This photo is taken with the parking brake lever in the lowest position. See how there is space between the adjuster nut and the holder. This should not normally occur. It is because both my right and left parking brake cables were binding. The cables should not bind. They should move freely. If I grabbed the end of the cable at the drum with a vice grips and pulled really hard, I could get the cable to return.
20. Crawl under the car and remove the exhaust shield. Wear a pair of safety glasses or you will end up with rust in your eyes! There are three nuts. One came off, the second one, I ground off and the third one, I couldn’t grind it because exhaust pipe was in the way. I couldn’t even get at it with a Dremel tool. In frustration, I ended up ripping the shield off. I think I could have ground it off with a die grinder, but I do not have one.
21. With the exhaust shield removed, here is what you will see. The right and left rear brake cables are connected to a yoke. A third cable (a short one) is connected to the other side of the yoke. This short cable is attached to the parking brake lever inside the car. Note that the rear brake cables criss-cross under the car as shown in the second photo.
22. There are three clips holding each rear brake cable. All require a 10mm socket to remove. Remove all three clips. All of my bolts snapped like pretzels. I re-tapped the holes and replaced all of the bolts with stainless steel bolts. It is really tight drilling and tapping under the car. At this point, I was really tempted to pack it in, but I persisted!
23. Now, you need to punch the plastic grommet out of the holder and rotate the cable in the yoke 90 degrees. Then use a punch to remove the end of the cable from the yoke. This step was tricky. The end of the cable was seized in the yoke and would not turn 90 degrees, so I had to wedge a screwdriver into the yoke and pry it apart a bit in order free up the end of the cable, so I could rotate it. I used a piece of ¾” plywood to support the yoke when punching the end of the cable out. This step is not easy to do. I found it frustrating. But I persisted and eventually got it out.
24. Compare the old cable with the new cable. Mine looked good. Same length. A little different design, but basically the same. The new cable moved freely within the outer jacket. I couldn’t even budge the old cable in its outer jacket.
25. The lug on the end of the new cable was a bit rough, so I clamped in the vice and filed off the rough edges.
26. Install the new cable. Start at the yoke and work your way back to the brake shoe. Installation was a piece of cake. The new cable end was very loose in the yoke. I found it necessary to squash the yoke a bit with a pair of vice grips to prevent the new cable ends from slipping out of the yoke. Apply anti-seize compound to all of the bolts. The new cable installed very easily…I could start to see some light at the end of the tunnel!
Note: The new after-market cables did not have a plastic coating on the cable like the original OEM version, but the cables are made out of stainless steel. Toyota OEM cables were $90/cable vs. the $52/cable that I spent. I expect that plastic coating is better, but the car is 13 years old and I only plan to hold on to it for another 6-7 years, so hopefully these cables will last that long.
27. Pull the parking brake cable spring back with a needle nose pliers and place the cable into the hooked end of the parking brake lever.
28. Apply a light coating of antiseize compound to the brake shoe contact areas on the backing plate. Install the rear shoe assembly against the backing plate. Install the pin, cups and hold down spring. Twist the cup to secure the rear shoe assembly against the backing plate. Be careful to ensure that the parking brake cable and spring is routed properly in the guide to prevent rubbing against the axle flange.
29. Connect the anchor spring to the bottom of each shoe and mount the front shoe to the backing plate using the pin, cups and hold down spring.
30. Use a narrow slot screwdriver to pry the return spring into the opening on the front shoe. If necessary, use a pliers to ensure push the spring forward until it snaps fully into position.
31. Wiggle the brake assembly back and forth to make sure that it is seated properly against the backing plate. Examine the ends of the adjuster to ensure that they are properly seated in the slots in the shoes.
32. Remove the old parking brake cable on the other side and install the new cable as per the above instructions. Re-install the brake shoes on the left side. Get a helper to pull the parking brake lever inside the car a few times while you observe the star wheel adjuster. You should see the star wheel move when the parking brake cable is released on both sides. Mine did.
33. Slide both drums onto their axle flanges, noting the white alignment mark between the drum and the hub from Step 3. The drums should rotate freely. Adjust the shoes outward using the star adjuster wheel until there is a slight resistance when the drum is rotated. A bit of trial and error is involved. It only took me a few minutes to get it right. Mount both wheels and tighten the lug nuts to 80 ft.lbs.
34. From inside the car, snug the adjuster nut to take the slack out of the cable and lock in position with the locking nut. I pulled the parking brake lever up several times and got about 5 clicks on the ratchet mechanism which felt about right. Replace the center console and shift bezel.
35. Install the exhaust shield. Slober some antisieze on the bolts to try to keep them from rusting.
36. The mounts on my exhaust shield over the gas tank had completely rotted away and the shield had fallen down and was just sitting loose on top of the exhaust pipe. I fixed this up and remounted it.
37. Make a number of forward and reverse stops and check the operation of the brakes carefully before driving the car on the road.
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2002 Camry 2.4L Auto - 70K miles
2008 Corolla 1.8L Auto - 48K miles
Great job man! Wow is that what winter and many years of road-salt does to the underside of cars for you guys?? Damn!
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**ADAM! A/C button for Gen 5.5 Camry (2005 LE) !! Por favor!
Brake lights aren't broken, I just don't brake.
--Can honestly go to a parts counter and ask for brake shoes for the front brakes.
--Likes long walks on the beach.... once it's lit by a massive bonfire.
Excellent work man. You seem to be a perfectionist. Thanks!
My camry handbrake adjuster nut and the other nut are too tight to even move a bit. There is also not much space between the seat, seatbelt clamp and the handbrake. What sort of tools do you use to open these bolts/nuts? I only have a small wrench and a spanner that wont fit in this tiny space
Excellent work man. You seem to be a perfectionist. Thanks!
My camry handbrake adjuster nut and the other nut are too tight to even move a bit. There is also not much space between the seat, seatbelt clamp and the handbrake. What sort of tools do you use to open these bolts/nuts? I only have a small wrench and a spanner that wont fit in this tiny space
I used a "deep" socket to loosen and tighten the adjuster nut.
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2002 Camry 2.4L Auto - 70K miles
2008 Corolla 1.8L Auto - 48K miles
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DIY: GEN3 2.2L Parking Brake Cable Replacement Procedure
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