Parking Break Adjustment

I’m going to be fixing my bearing break, as I realized that my parking break won’t hold me on a 15% grade road on wet conditions.

So correct me if I’m wrong.
If the nut is further AFT/Rear I’m “releasing” tension, and if it is further Forward I’m “increasing” tension?

If the nut is far forward as it can go, what else can I do or Adjust? (I got the vehicle set as seen on the photo)

I don’t want to be parked on a grade relying on the parking Pawl.

side note. Very squishy breaks in general, 50% foot depression feels like 20-30% breaking power.

 

You also adjust at the rear drums.

 

Correct on the adjustment. If you are out of usable thread I would say you should release tension and adjust at the drum star first.

 

Drum first, adjust the cable under the console last.

The cable under the console should have slack when not engaged.

If you crank that nut too far you'll drag the drums and overheat them.

 

I do have to be honest here.
I’ve never adjusted my brakes per the manual.
Adjust until they drag SLIGHTLY , press the brake pedal 2-3 times, recheck for a slight drag.

 

By the difference in the cable lengths it looks like either one of the cables is broken or something is messed up on that side.

 

Got it.
I googled a video on the general-ness of the rear drum breaks.

Can I access that star wheel without removing the “Front Plate/Cover”?
Or even better without removing the tire?

 

oh okay. I will check for that. Thank you.
I thought it looked normal as it has the same angle as my FJ cruiser.

 

I think it's common, mine and a lot of others I've seen look like that.

But I agree with above, drums first, then cable

 

Ah I guess I've never payed attention to mine, I've had the cupholder out but never looked at the cables that close.

 

I had to do my left rear recently because the leaf spring bracket ate a hole in the sleeve.

But first I replaced a leaky axle seal at that same corner, thinking that was causing the wheel to lock up on sticky shoes. Stupidly ignored the cut parking brake cable, put it back together and had to take it all back apart again..

Ladies and gentlemen, if you have a wheel locking up when you try to use the parking brake there's a 98% chance it's a sticking cable. Don't be like me and ignore them

 

Mine gets used daily as I have a manual and we don't have rust here so hopefully I never have that issue lol.

 

mine sticks sometimes parked
and truck feels like something's dragging

is there a way to just spray some cable somewhere with WD40 to resolve it...

been putting it off but I'm sure at 170k the truck would enjoy getting done
-rear brakes; pads and drums
-new cylinders
-rear axle seals
-adjust e-brake

 

take off the adjuster in the center console and spray a whole bottle down each cable. Use it each and every time you park, that's why it's called a parking brake.

 

I'll do that to the cable, thanks.
Yes I always use it every time. There's no choice. Truck is manual.

 

Just double checking. as that is the main cause of failure is neglect. But yes, start with that and see if it improves. If not, you may have a tear in the cable lining down by the wheels allowing water to intrude an cause rust. The biggest issue is the aluminum housing of the cable end gets brittle and snaps where it connects to the backing plate.

 

Question in this same topic area that maybe folks might help with (but let me know if this is considered rude on this forum and I'll post a new question/thread) --- Is there any harm in tightening down the adjuster under the console a LOT? Or in other words, is there something I can screw up by tightening it that isn't obvious beyond clearly over-taunt cables?

Details -- Got a new to me 08, the 4cyl 5spd manual 4wd (my first Tacoma) and the parking brake just doesn't hold at all. I can pull it tight and everything in the pull handle feels like I would expect. The truck drives totally fine - no wonkiness at all with the rear brakes during normal operation that I can tell.

Now the truck seems pretty well cared for, but after 267K of life in New England - there's some rust on stuff - the rear drums look pretty old from the backside. Obviously, I have no idea what was done or when, or how much meat is left on the friction surfaces.

It did just pass inspection, but I am 99.9999% certain they didn't pull the drums off as they wouldn't have had the time.

The cable adjuster is roughly in the middle of the threaded rod, so I have a good amount of room to tighten it if I wanted to. I've tightened it a bit already and each time try pushing the truck in my driveway and think "oh, it seems to be catching".. only to park on a very mild incline and pull the brake handle and get pretty much no hold whatsoever.

This is both my first Tacoma as well as first pickup truck. I do have a good deal of experience with Jeeps having had 2 manual jeeps - TJ Wrangler and XJ Cherokee - with rear drums. I haven't done drum brakes very much, but on the XJ did replace one of the parking brake cables (after having a shop do new brakes with new cables) after it seized up due to melting against the exhaust pipe. That was pretty easy even with having to mickey mouse the new cable to account for stretch... but I've read a number of posts suggesting the self-adjusters in these trucks require some manual intervention.. and the idea of that makes me slightly nervous. As it is a manual I want to have a functional parking brake, but given the choice between where it is NOW and having the parking brake locking up the back wheels.. I'd definitely choose how it is right now.

Reading this thread makes me think I should crank down the adjuster mechanism a bunch as my next step until hitting one of:

• It holds/works normally
• The cables seem dangerously taunt when the brake handle is pulled
• I go over 75% of the thread on the rod (or 25% more than it is now)

What do you guys think??

 

@PatHenry52

Don’t tighten it too tight, otherwise you are just dragging the parking break.
If it’s too tight, you will feel the truck needs more gas setting off.

In my limited experience with this thing, I’m having a hard time finding the balance of too tight and too loose.
I don’t like having the whole truck resting on the parking pawl alone, and I have trust issues feeling my truck roll back on a gentle slope with no cargo.
I bought 2 wheel chocks.

I found that that there is 3 points of adjustment you can fiddle with.

1 - Rear dumb parking break star thing.
2 - Under the centre console that long thread and screw.
3 - Under the parking break itself. (Not often talked about) the cable attached to the foot mechanism, where it has a long thread and 2 nuts you can adjust the tension.

I had to do 3 as I ran out of adjustment on 2.

 

Oh nice!! I hadn't even considered there might be an adjustment on the brake lever itself....

Mine is not a foot pedal - it's a pull bar thing, but I can check it... Both my Jeeps had the console hand lever style and I think my Dad's 3rd gen Taco had the pedal..
I will say, I was definitely taken aback when I first saw that pull handle thing.. but it was clearly written to turn the handle and had a trigger so it was pretty quick to get used to... now if it would just work!!

I have plenty of thread under the console, so I'll be working there for now....

What's weird though is that on both my Jeeps, it was a really clear "feel" to engaged vs. disengaged. Maybe because I haven't tightened it up enough to engage on this truck....?? Or maybe because on the Jeeps I always started with a fully working parking brake and only ever had to deal with adjustment after it clearly stretched out the cables... I don't know.. we'll see how it goes tonight when I get out there to mess with it.

 

I hear you on the trust issues... one can certainly, with a manual like mine, engage the shifter and park the vehicle, but I'm reluctant to do that unless absolutely necessary.
That goes back to my Wrangler in which I did that normally - parking and "in-gear"... then one day I got towed against my will. Meaning, I accidentally parked in the wrong spot and they forcibly removed my Jeep. It messed up my clutch and for those that don't know.. anything to do with new clutch set parts requires literally pulling the transmission off the engine.... I was beyond furious.
2/2 times towing screwed up the tranny in that Wranger and my XJ never needed a tow... so I'm loathe to leave it gear lest something happen that takes my transmission from "fine" to "needing to be pulled off the engine" - even if it's a very small chance.

I'd rather find a flatter spot and just put the parking brake on... but who knows.. this truck is definitely a lot heavier than either Jeep was.. so maybe I'm doomed to a weekend working on drum brakes in my near future to ensure everything is kosher back there....