alia176
SILVER Star
Those of you who have done the parking brakes on a 4th gen will be able relate to this. The amount of anger and frustrations coming from working with parts in a tiny space can be quite astonishing, I tell you what 
I'm talking about holding these spring clip things (circled below) with one hand while installing the brake shoes with the other. After mucking with them for two hours, I busted out the welder and took care of business. I ain't proud, but relieved my frustration level exponentially!
Last time my daughter assembled all this with ease, and I think this was two years ago. But, something must've been done incorrectly because the driver rear brake components came apart inside the drum while I was driving, and everything just fell out once the rotor was removed. This happened at 0900 and I took it apart at 1700 hrs. I drove around with a scraping noise from the driver rear wheel the entire day which made me cringe.
There was a decent amount of metal deformation/damage from this event. I had to straighten out the "brake drum oil deflector" right behind the axle hub surface which is thin metal. The backing plate that the brake components slide on is also deformed but hopefully not detrimental. I'll have to remove the axle from the housing then swap it out with another one from a junk yard. I'll grab one this weekend.
On the pass rear, one of the spring clips (circled in red below) was missing and the spring was laying in the bottom. So that side was also on its way to coming apart.
I know what y'all are thinking, well what about the next brake job? Got ya covered. You can slide the shoes off and on with these things still intact. In fact, it's easier to assemble them first then slide the shoes on but that task is way challenging in a 4th gen where the space is limited. and you have gorilla hands like mine. In the 80, this space is way more vast and the hardware is identical but the frustrations isn't present. The pic below shows the usage of an angle trim tool to hold the shebang out of the way while compressing the spring right before the shoe gets slid on.
Another trick I used was to use a tensioning strap to keep both shoes tight and in tension while doing other things.
The material is probably pot metal or super thin metal but it took to the welding good enough. Not one of mu proudest moments but I was at my wits end after couple of hours of dinking with it.
EDIT: this tool is quite handy for this job so I suggest buying one before starting! I just bought one a little late but i'll have it in teh toolbox. JTC TOYOTA CAMRY, TACOMA, TUNDRA... REAR HANDBRAKE SPRING DRIVER, JTC # 4487 | eBay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/182760958565
I'm talking about holding these spring clip things (circled below) with one hand while installing the brake shoes with the other. After mucking with them for two hours, I busted out the welder and took care of business. I ain't proud, but relieved my frustration level exponentially! Last time my daughter assembled all this with ease, and I think this was two years ago. But, something must've been done incorrectly because the driver rear brake components came apart inside the drum while I was driving, and everything just fell out once the rotor was removed. This happened at 0900 and I took it apart at 1700 hrs. I drove around with a scraping noise from the driver rear wheel the entire day which made me cringe.
There was a decent amount of metal deformation/damage from this event. I had to straighten out the "brake drum oil deflector" right behind the axle hub surface which is thin metal. The backing plate that the brake components slide on is also deformed but hopefully not detrimental. I'll have to remove the axle from the housing then swap it out with another one from a junk yard. I'll grab one this weekend.
On the pass rear, one of the spring clips (circled in red below) was missing and the spring was laying in the bottom. So that side was also on its way to coming apart.
I know what y'all are thinking, well what about the next brake job? Got ya covered. You can slide the shoes off and on with these things still intact. In fact, it's easier to assemble them first then slide the shoes on but that task is way challenging in a 4th gen where the space is limited. and you have gorilla hands like mine. In the 80, this space is way more vast and the hardware is identical but the frustrations isn't present. The pic below shows the usage of an angle trim tool to hold the shebang out of the way while compressing the spring right before the shoe gets slid on.
Another trick I used was to use a tensioning strap to keep both shoes tight and in tension while doing other things.
The material is probably pot metal or super thin metal but it took to the welding good enough. Not one of mu proudest moments but I was at my wits end after couple of hours of dinking with it.
EDIT: this tool is quite handy for this job so I suggest buying one before starting! I just bought one a little late but i'll have it in teh toolbox. JTC TOYOTA CAMRY, TACOMA, TUNDRA... REAR HANDBRAKE SPRING DRIVER, JTC # 4487 | eBay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/182760958565
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