Pumping wheel cylinder, without drum = big mess

What a crappy day. No garage, and had to work on the truck in 95 degree heat outside, with no shade. First time doing drums, so I took my time. Took apart my driver rear drum brakes for a very thorough cleaning. Got everything back together again and lubed, no problem. Was gonna put my drum back on and call it a day, but nooooo, I wanted to see my drums in action. So I put down the drum, took the camera phone out, and it recorded as I pumped the brake once. ABS and red brake warning light came on along with a popping sound. For some odd reason (maybe I liked the sound it made), I went in for another; and what do you know,another popping sound.



Here's a slow motion vid.




Both wheel cylinder boots came off.

I panicked and grabbed the first tool I could reach..... a sharp pocket screw driver


Managed to get the driver rear back on with out incident. Passenger rear has a hole, and was leaking lots of brake fluid. Luckily there was a mom and pop auto repair center next door. Had to ask them to fix it for me cause I don't have the parts, and can't leave my truck behind an office building over night.


My truck is there now, and will be ready by tomorrow. Here's the thing, they tell me they need to replace it with a new wheel cylinder for the passenger rear, even though it's just a damaged rubber boot? They said I don't need to replace the driver rear cause I managed to get the boot back on that one. That doesn't make sense to me, unless you can't buy the boot's separately. Anyways I was too tired of working on the truck for 12 hours in the hot sun to even argue.


They tell me it's $200 for parts and labor, that includes bleeding the brakes. $100 for a wheel cylinder?? I did a quick google search and aftermarket cylinders are selling for about $15. Can't find any pricing info on the oem version there installing. Got no idea if I got a good deal or not.

 

Sorry for your pain. However a very valuable lesson was learned out of this I'm sure.

What did you think stopped the pistons from coming out of the cylinder?

Damn you took 12 hours to clean / lube the brakes?

 

Yes, I sure did lol.

I think the lip of the backing plate prevented it from coming out all the way. Thank god!

Yup, I have to drive with all my tools in the back of the truck to a far off location. My tacoma is basically a driving garage. Takes 4 hours just to unload and put my tools away. 8 hours for brakes, yes im ocd haha.