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Discussion Starter · #1 · (Edited)
So I decided to replace my rear drum brakes and rotors, not easy unless you've done it before on the same car. I had to figure it out as I did it, good thing I took pictures. Here is how to do it and save yourself a big headache and a lot of money. Parts were very cheap to replace, I got the brake shoes ($30), rotors ($30) and new hardware kit ($8) for under $70 usd total (Got my parts from RockAuto). It shouldn't take you more than 1-2 hours for both sides.

Tools and supplies needed (click for images):
1. Car Jack and stands (2 ton minimum)
2. Needle Nose pliers
3. Hook tool
4. Flathead screwdriver (small and big)
5. Anti Seize
6. Brake parts cleaner
7. Sandpaper (60, 80 or 100 grit)
8. Rear Drum Brake Rotors x2
9. Brake Shoes
10. Drum Brake Hardware Kit (For the C-Washers)
11. Wheel Chocks
12. Clear Safety Glasses

**Here is a color coded diagram I made of the parts and where they go (Pictures below are color coded to this diagram):


1. Put on your safety glasses. Make sure the parking brake is OFF, put wheel chocks behind the front tires and jack up the car, put it on a stand and then remove the right back tire.

2. Remove right drum brake rotor:


3. Spray brakes with brake parts cleaner (make sure you don't inhale any brake dust)

4. Remove the small return spring using the hook tool:

5. Remove the big return spring using the hook tool:

6. Remove the anchor spring using hook tool:

7. Remove the 2 shoe hold down springs, cups and pins by grabing them with the pliers and pushing in as you twist in either direction:

8. Remove both brake shoes (strut bar might still be attached to brakes)

9. Remove parking brake cable from parking brake lever (use pliers to slide spring back):

10. Remove the strut bar:

11. Remove the C-Washers (use flathead screwdrivers and needle nose pliers):

12. Remove automatic adjusting spring lever/latch and parking brake lever:

13. Re-attach automatic adjusting spring lever/latch and parking brake lever to the new brake shoes (refer to pictures 11 and 12, you will need new C-Washers)

14. Sand contact points and then apply anti seize:

15. Attach parking brake cable to parking brake lever and then install left side shoe

16. Attach strut bar to right side shoe (see picture 10) and install

17. Connect strut bar to left side shoe

18. Install the 2 shoe hold down springs, cups and pins by grabing them with the pliers and pushing in as you twist in either direction (see picture 7)

19. Install anchor spring using the hook tool (see picture 6)

20. Install big return spring using the hook tool(see picture 5)

21. Install small return spring using the hook tool(see picture 4)

22. Push in automatic adjusting latch using flathead screwdriver:

23. Spray inside of right drum brake rotor with break cleaner and dry it off. Install new right drum brake rotor:

24. Install tire, jack the car up slightly, remove jack stand, jack the car down and remove wheel chocks.

25. Engage and disengage parking brake lever (this auto adjust the rear brakes), then pump the brakes a few times until brake pedal is tight

26. Repeat steps 1-25 for the left side (remember everything is mirrored on the left side)

 

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Discussion Starter · #3 ·
Excellent post. On my echo was the first time I ever did drums, and boy was it a learning curve. Also did it late at night and accidentally punctured a wheel cylinder I had to order for the morning. It was quite a pain or a project, but glad I can do it

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lol yeah, same here. A real pain and learning curve, I'm glad drum brakes last forever though :). Once you know how, it's not too hard.
 

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Huge thank you for this DIY. I'm not gonna say it was easy but it would have been a lot more challenging (read: impossible) to do my girlfriend's yaris brakes without this. Really appreciated the color coding on the diagram.

Hey great diy I might need to read it again when I do my yaris drum brakes some time in the near future. I haven't done drum brakes since my high school days, 30 yr ago. :thanks:
I can't speak for all Yarii but on the 2007 hatchback I worked on was a bit different than the Echo as pictured above. Key differences are the lack of a small return spring on the Yaris, there is only one large one. When you buy the spring/hardware kit (AC delco sells one on Amazon for about $12) make sure you use the correct return spring as they are side specific. And don't judge it based on color, just on orientation.

We purchased genuine Toyota brake shoes and these came with the parking brake lever pre-installed, so no moving that over. The adjuster lever will still need to be transferred over but there are no clips holding it in place. Odd.

From the AC delco hardware kit as mentioned above, the adjuster spring was not a perfect match so we decided to forgo that and reused the old ones instead.

For adjusting, you probably know better than I about this but what worked for us is we put everything back together, drum included and then removed the rubber grommet behind the hub to gain access to the adjuster wheel (it's a wheel on the Yaris and not like the lever on the Echo). We expanded the adjuster all the way out till the wheel was at full lock. The Toyota instructions say to now back it off 8 "clicks" of the star wheel (it doesn't really click, we just tried our best to estimate the teeth). We backed it off till it just barely caught on the shoes. So the drum would still spin with very light contact. Replace the grommet with a new one from the AC delco kit. Repeat on the other side.

When we "finished" the brakes, we noticed we could still move the rear wheel by hand while someone was pressing the brake pedal. A brief drive around the block with a few instances of 30 to 5mph braking allowed the drums to adjust and the pedal would now properly lock up the wheel.

Bonus tip: Make sure you use a spring remover tool with a handle. This is what we used:





Disk brakes up front....what a breeze!

I've never done drum brakes before and hope I don't have to again but the experience paid off. It's very do-able for someone who is at least a little bit mechanically inclined. The shop quoted my girlfriend over $1000 for rotors and pads up front as well as shoes and drums in the rear. NOT worth it. Do it yourself and save the money. We spent about $400 using all genuine Toyota parts but we did upgrade the disk brake pads to Akebono ceramic pads. The brake pedal feel after a fluid flush is amazing now. On par with my BRZ.

Hope this helps.
 

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I think they're called Black XD Series. Tell him to make sure that his calipers aren't frozen when installing new pads or rotors, better yet replace them or rebuild them if in doubt. This will help to insure longer life and no rotor warping. I've had mine on a Toyota Yaris for a year and been happy with them. Luk Schaffer makes a nice slotted cross drilled rotor (this may help keep them cool and prohibit warping) for not a ton of money.
 
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