How often and how to adjust rear drums

[touringcamry]

After my drums started thumping again having tried to sand the shoes twice with no results, I took it to a shop. They inspected all the brakes and found that the drums were out of round and machined them.

They also found that my OE shoes looked like new and adjusted the rear drums. No more thumping noise. My car has 67 000 miles on it!! Also I now have to pull up on the handbrake only about half as much as before.

My brakes also feel different now because I guess the rear brakes engage now also.
Good thing is that it can stop quicker. Bad thing is that I feel like I have to learn to brake all over again.

How often do I need to adjust the drum brakes and how do I do it?? I've always been under the impression that the drums were self adjusting and no adjustment is needed but I guess I'm dead wrong if my shoes are like new after 67 000 miles. My first set of front pads were replaced at 32k miles and my current set of front pads is at 60%.

[Cyorke]

Normally when you apply the hand brake the rears will adjsut then. However it doesnt seem to work the way they designed it to. You could probably stand to adjsut the rears every 10-15k miles or less jsut depending on the type of driving you do. IT is pretty easy to do so you dont have to take it anywhere if you dont want to pay to ahve it done. Or you can jsut adjust them when the pedal seems to be traveling a little more than you would like it to.

[touringcamry]

I learned to drive in San Francisco which is full of hills so I always set the hand brake when I park. Even on flat land. But that doesn't seem to work.

What do I need to do to adjust the rear brakes? I don't want to take it to the shop to get it done any more. I only did it this time because I was frustrated, have a very busy week, and a trip I'm taking this weekend. I know I won't have time to take it to the auto hobby shop to do it myself before my trip so this was resort.

[cam2Xrunner]

I would have them cleaned and adjusted every 15-20K miles. It's pretty easy except for the part about jacking up the car, taking the wheel off, then taking the drum off.


Put the car in Park, then take the wheel off. Hit the drum with a hammer to break it loose.

Use a can a brake cleaner to clean everything off, including the inside of the drum itself.

There will be a little rod mechanism with this little gear thing. You will have to use a small flathead screwdriver to turn the gear, which spread open the brake pads.

Be sure to check your wheel cylinders for leaks. There will be black rubber covers on each side, pull the bottom part off and see it brake fluid starts leaking out. If it doesn't you're good to go. If it does, you will have to replace them, and bleed the brakes. Now would be a good time to change out all the brake fluid if you are going to be changing the wheel cylinders.

[touringcamry]

I've opened the drums before, but I didn't whack them with a mallet. I inserted screws to push the drum out.

Sounds fairly simple. Removing the wheels and the drums aren't that difficult. I guess I just have to find the mechanism to spread the shoes. But how much do I spread them?

[Cyorke]

jsut give them a couple of clicks then reinstall the drum. When you get the drum back on spin it. You want it to turn about 1.5-2 turns before it stops. The mechanism to spread the drums is easy. At the top of the assembly you will find a bar with a toothed wheel on it. That is the mechanism to adjust the brakes. One thing you may do also if you are going to be into it is grease the shoes where they touch the brake backing plate. sometimes you will get a little bit of noise from them if there is not any kind of lubricant on them. Only put grease at he point the shoes actually touch the backing plate though.

[ToyotaGuy50]

Star adjusters on all drum brakes adjust when you brake in reverse. This is an old Bendix design that never really worked well....So manual adjustment is usually necessary every 15k miles.
You don't have to pull off the drum to adjust drum brakes..there is an adjustment hole on the backing plate-(usually with a rubber plug covering it) where you can access the adjuster with the right sized screwdriver..or thel little lever like tools made to do this..drum brake adjuster tools.

[touringcamry]

So the self adjust mechanism, I have to apply the regular brake and back up or do I have to engage the parking brake and back up?

[jhbhatia]

My pads usually last me easy 75-90K miles. (never needed rotor replacement - since i resurface them when i replace pads). As far a drums' go, i never knew they needed any maintenance. I added 160K miles on my celica w/o any work on rear drums! Am i missing something..or one only needs to 'adjust' when there is a problem.

[touringcamry]

^ I think you need to adjust them every so often.

The I have taken my drums apart before but I didn't know how much material was supposed to be on the shoes. I thought the shoes were supposed to be thick like the front pads, but they're not. I went to Napa Auto and they showed me a new set of shoes and I was surprised how thin the material was on the shoes.

After 67k miles, my shoes are like new meaning they have been out of adjustment and not engaging for a long long time. I changed the first set of pads at 32000 miles! My current front pads are about 50% because I do a lot more high way driving now. But now that my rears are in adjustment again, I think the fronts should last more than 25000 miles now since they aren't doing all the stopping any more.

BTW, what is Desi?

[Cyorke]

NO you dont want to set the parking brake and back up if they are going to work correctly then it would be when you back up and apply the brakes. As for the hole in the backing plate to adjsut brakes, Toyota actually has a nice little hole in the front of the drms to accomplish this. Just pull the rubber plug out and you can get to the star adjsuter that way. Everything is right there in front of you. i will tell you getting the screwdriver inthe right posision can be somewhat of a PITA.

[Mike Gerber]

Cyorke is correct. There is a hole covered by a rubber plug actually in the front of the drums on Toyotas. You don't need to remove the drum. Just remove the wheel and the rubber plug and use a slotted screwdriver on the star gear. It is near 12:00 (top of the clock), just slightly to 11:30 or 12:30; I can't remember which side. Adjust the teeth downward a bit and spin the drum. It should spin about 1-1/2 to 2 turns, as someone already pointed out. Just remember to leave the hand brake (emergency brake) off when doing the adjustment. I adjust my rear drums about every 10,000 miles. It takes me about 15 minutes including jacking up the rear and removing and reinstalling the wheels.

Toyota rear drum brake self adjusters work off the hand brake, as do most Japanese cars. They do not work by just backing up, as do most American cars with rear drum brakes. Be sure to use your hand brake.

Mike

[jhbhatia]

Originally Posted by touringcamry

^BTW, what is Desi?

A desi is a slang for south-asian people originating from the indian-subcontinent predominatly from India and/or pakistan!

[touringcamry]

Originally Posted by Mike Gerber

Toyota rear drum brake self adjusters work off the hand brake, as do most Japanese cars. They do not work by just backing up, as do most American cars with rear drum brakes. Be sure to use your hand brake.

So if I understand you right, all I need to do is pull the hand brake when I park?

Originally Posted by jhbhatia

A desi is a slang for south-asian people originating from the indian-subcontinent predominatly from India and/or pakistan!

LOL...I never heard of the term before. Just like some people don't know what I mean when I say I'm an ABC -- American Born Chinese meaning that I'm of Chinese descent, born in America.

[Mike Gerber]

You should always use your hand brake to help keep them in adjustment, but I have found you still have to manually adjust them periodically. For me, it's the 10,000 mile interval I mentioned above.

Mike