Issues with replacing my ebrake, are my rear hubs not OEM?

[frawstme]

Good morning

Last month I realized my ebrake wasn't working and it was making noise. I disassembled it and fully removed the ebrake assembly because I needed to drive my car in the meantime while the parts came from Japan

Previous owner rigged something up and it obviously wasn't working. I ordered new bell cranks, springs, hardware, boots, brake shoes, everything except the adjuster at the bottom because it's reusable.

Anyways all the parts finally arrived, and upon reassembly I noticed something. Every video I watch, you install the parking brake loose then use the adjuster through an access hole in the rotor. My car does not have that access hole, does this hub look aftermarket? In all the videos peoples hubs have multiple holes that clear through and mine has none so the adjuster cannot be adjusted

The black hole in the the photo is not an access hole, it doesn't go straight through.

Anyways the issue that I'm having is that I don't have a tool to measure the inside of the rotor and the diameter of the edges of the shoes to get this accurately within toyotas specs.

When I pull the bell crank from the back, the shoes only spread maybe 2mm, is that normal or did I install something incorrectly?

 

[frawstme]

Here are some photos of the install please tell me if something looks wrong or a spring is misplaced

the part that I'm most unsure of is the curved metal rod that passes through the hub in the first photo. I don't remember what position that is supposed to be in and I haven't found and video where it's visible

 

[leveeguy]

Every video I watch, you install the parking brake loose then use the adjuster through an access hole in the rotor. My car does not have that access hole, does this hub look aftermarket? In all the videos peoples hubs have multiple holes that clear through and mine has none so the adjuster cannot be adjusted.


Pretty sure the hole in the rotor is the only hole needed for adjustment. That hole will be just outside the edge of hub face and the hub shouldn't be blocking the adjuster when its all put back together. If it is then your hub may be incorrect.

Thats not to say the hub wont interfere somewhat when trying to move the adjuster, even if you have the correct OEM hub.

 

[frawstme]

Every video I watch, you install the parking brake loose then use the adjuster through an access hole in the rotor. My car does not have that access hole, does this hub look aftermarket? In all the videos peoples hubs have multiple holes that clear through and mine has none so the adjuster cannot be adjusted.


Pretty sure the hole in the rotor is the only hole needed for adjustment. That hole will be just outside the edge of hub face and the hub shouldn't be blocking the adjuster when its all put back together. If it is then your hub may be incorrect.

Thats not to say the hub wont interfere somewhat when trying to move the adjuster, even if you have the correct OEM hub.

Something must to be incorrect then. The hole is outside the edge of the hub face, but the adjuster is not accessable from the hole.

For that side, i ended up just making adjustments, removing the rotor, then making adjustments again and marking with chalk each time until there was no rubbing when I spun the wheel. That worked out pretty well.

The other side is a different story. I just finished assembling it, and even when the adjuster is turned all the way down, the shoes stick out too much for the rotor to slide on. I have been looking over the hubs closely, and the pictures that I took originally, and I can't see anything different about the way they are assembled. The shoes have some wiggle room to center them but even if I have them perfectly centered the rotor won't go on. I'm really not at all sure about what's happening here lol

Is there some other type of adjustment that I'm missing? Do you guys see anything wrong in my pictures?

 

[leveeguy]

Is the spring shown here

Installed in this location also

 

[frawstme]

Can you clarify what you mean? Those springs put inward pressure just to hold the shoes in place, no outward pressure. And they are configured the same as factory

Is the spring shown here
View attachment 4179390
Installed in this location also
View attachment 4179391

 

[leveeguy]

Can you clarify what you mean? Those springs put inward pressure just to hold the shoes in place, no outward pressure. And they are configured the same as factory

The other spring not the yellow one. Appears that one pulls the shoes inward. I can tell the yellow one is present on both sides

 

[frawstme]

The other spring not the yellow one. Appears that one pulls the shoes inward. I can tell the yellow one is present on both sides

This is the photo from when I disassembled. It's attached to a set bracket and there is only one spring like that in each drum, not meant to be present on both sides.

There is a spring at the bottom that holds them together, then two at the top that does the same thing. I'm rewatching some videos of this isntall to make sure I'm not missing something, losing my mind here

 

[frawstme]

well

I've walked back and forth about 30 times, both sides mirror each other perfectly.

When the star wheel is completely compressed, the drivers side will not allow the rotor to go on. The passenger side fits great.

For perspective, this is with the main ebrake line off of the car, so there's no tension. I have double checked timmy the toolmans video and two others, my springs are all in correct positions and orientation.

When I remove the starwheel, rotor will fit.

When I keep the starwheel on, but remove the top seperating strut, the rotor will not fit.

So the bottom of the shoes is where the rotor is catching, but I can't make the starwheel any smaller. I marked the inside rim of my rotor with chalk and tried again with everything assembled, the chalk comes off at the bottom of the shoes, so that's confirmed. The top and sides have enough clearance, but between the positions of 4 and 8 o'clock, it can't clear.

I feel like this is such a simple system but I don't know what's going on and can't figure it out.

 

[frawstme]

does anyone have any advice? I've taken this apart about nine times and I can't find what the issue is here. I also swapped rotors to make sure that wasn't the cause

I cut out a notch in the shoe so that it allows a few mm more space (as if the star wheel was shorter) and it allowed me to fit the rotor on, but with heavy drag when I spin the wheel

I'm all out of ideas. I think if I cut the shoe any more it will cause an issue with it offsetting

 

[Kamran Khan]

I see one minor issue. The cup that holds the spring is installed inside out. I am not sure if that will make any difference.

 

[Kamran Khan]

Skip this video to 6:25. I replaced the bell crank last year. This video may give you an idea of what goes where.