How to replace rear brakes?

Merry Christmas all,

I need to replace my front and rear brakes and rotors. I know how to change the front but I've never had to do drum breaks. Does anyone have instructions on how to do it properly? The Toyota dealership wants $1200 bucks for the job and I prefer to do my own work on my truck when I can.

Thanks!

 

How many miles do you have? rear drums generally last a really really long time (like 100k+ miles long)

 

Disks are simple as heeeeeel, but check youtube for vids on the drums - there's some pretty detailed ones. Wouldn't hurt to find an old-timer that's worked on drums before just to get some first-hand pointers as well.

 

Merry Christmas:

https://cardiagn.com/2016-tacoma-brake/

Starts in page 684 or search ID RM00000171M00AX. Take pictures as you're disassembling various springs and components.

 

My dad has a Alpina b7, cost him a assload of money for them to replace the battery on that thing.

 

Before starting to disassemble take LOTS of pictures. Raise the rear end and don’t touch anything on one side until you are certain the other side’s shoes are installed correctly. And remember that one shoe’s material is longer, I think it goes to the front……. I THINK

Try to assemble the shoes with as many springs and parking brake lever on the ground as possible. Buy good quality brake spring tools and pliers….. specialty tools makes this so much easier.

Be ready to say a few swear words as you try to put things back. Wear safety glasses because springs will fly. Take your time and the other side will be easier. It isn’t hard just tedious.

The only experience I have with drums are GM products, and these look almost identical.

 

My advice, if you don’t know what you’re doing, take it to a (cheaper) shop.

a guy towed in his Tacoma to my work because he did his own drum brake job but now was squealing all the time. He ended up prying the drums off and damaged the backing plate. FYI: you had to take out the axle to replace the backing plate. This was an older Tacoma though.

TRDL: have someone guide you through it or go to a cheaper shop.

 

I would suggest you only try to do the drums if someone experienced is there to walk you through it. Otherwise, take it to a shop.

 

Where do you live? If you are within 100 miles I’ll come over and give you a hand. I’m in eastern CT.

 

That’s an awesome gesture sir … Merry Christmas!

 

I didn't realize working on drum brakes was a dying skill. If dealers are charging $1200, I'll do them for 1K and it'll be done better and cleaner.
Only real expense comes from leaking wheel cylinders or axle seals.

 

That dealer is 100% scamming him unless he has well over 100k miles. Since drums are a dying skill, most techs look at the shoes and see how thin they are and recommend them, but they dont realize that drum shoes are thin to start with and last a really really long time.

 

Number one rule in drum brakes is NEVER under any circumstance take both sides apart at once! Complete the job on one side while you’ve got the other to look at. Only after you’ve finished the first side do you start taking the other apart.

That and spend the couple bucks on drum brake tools, fighting it with a big screwdriver and needle nose is just handicapping yourself.

 

Take it to a shop, NOT a dealer.

 

If you have never worked on drum brakes before I strongly recommend that you either have it done or connect up with someone who has experience. It takes special tools to do the job safely as those springs are a pain to deal with and can be dangerous. If you are around Portland Oregon I can loan you the tools and provide instruction on how to do it. Back when I was wrenching and dinosaurs roamed the earth there were more drum brakes than disc running around and I did a poop load of drum brake jobs.
Some of the special tools:

 

probably the two most important tools needed for back brakes and just taking your time...have done drum brakes on over 30 different cars and most are similar. I always say just do one side and have the other side brake drum off and just use that as a reference for the side your working on. have almost 85 k on mine and will be doing them in the next month along with the spark plugs.

 

I replaced mine by buying a new truck. I saved a ton of time, maybe I didn't save any money, but time definitely.

 

Subd

 

Drum brake technology hasn't changed much over the years. As a reference for how the process works, have a look at the instructions below.
There are also many videos online. There's a first time for everything, but thanks to the interwebs it's easier to do it right the first time these days.

I've been doing my own brake jobs, and brake jobs for friends for well over thirty years, but I still hate doing drum brakes.

https://adventuretaco.com/guide/step-by-step-tacoma-rear-drum-brake-shoe-replacement-also-4runner/

 

Still do. Rather than pull the axles, I just drilled a hole in the backing plate when I installed my extended wheel studs. /unrelated

Should not need to touch the backing plates themselves when doing this install though. Deadblow + M8x1.25 screws to walk the drum cover off will expose all you need. Prying can work but you need to be careful. Getting the drum off is the easy part. Make sure to put some anti-seize on the hub faces before reinstalling the rotors/drums so the next guy has a better chance of getting them off.