Parking brake help and brake smell ?

[packetstormin]

Hi everyone,

So I just finished putting my rear axle back together. Drums where taken apart so that I could replace bellhouse boot on both drums. The drum shoes and actual drum are the same ones as they where inspect and didn't need replacing. Also, rear axle got new seals and new bearings.

So first issue is my parking brake doesn't work anymore. The light is on and when I engage it on a incline it just rolls. It seems to easy to pull the parking brake lever out compared to how it used to be. I had a very competent board member check to make sure I put the drums back together correctly because it was my first time doing so and he said they are perfect. I have bled all the brakes and the lspv and braking is not an issue.

Secondly, from the right rear wheel well and drivers rear wheel well there is kind of a hot smell coming from those areas. Could be paranoia but I don't want to burn my brakes up. It could be the brake cleaner burning off not sure.

I adjusted the rear brakes my pulling on the parking lever a couple of times. Not sure if that is the right way to adjust the rear drums or not?

 

[toy4x4runner]

Pulling the break lever is suppose to adjust the brakes but it doesn't work very well. Check if the rear wheels spin freely when you jack them up of the ground. Also there are little levers sticking out the back of your drums that your e-brake cable is attached to. I think they have little boots over them. But if they get seized. Witch they often do. They will hold your e-brake on all the time. Witch would make your e-brake lever easy to pull. If they are seized they are easy to fix. Just have to tap that pin out and clean them up.

 

[packetstormin]

okay will try and report back...

 

[packetstormin]

Okay so the tires spin freely when the truck is up on the jack.

Had my wife pull parking brake while I watched and I saw both bell housings retract. I then spun the tires and there was a noticeable drag on them. So it seems that the parking brake is working some what but needs to be adjusted more. Before I did the axle job and the bell housing boot job the parking brake worked great. If I parked on a slant the parking brake would hold the truck in place. So obviously something has changed for the worse.

Brake light is still on.

Any other ideas or suggestions???

 

[toy4x4runner]

Did you adjust the breaks tighter threw the hole in the back of the drum breaks after you put it together? You should be able to spin that little gear looking thing while the brakes are together. A little bit at a time.

 

[toy4x4runner]

You could also just tighten up the e-brake with the bolt underneath. But that shouldn't be the problem.

 

[packetstormin]

Did you adjust the breaks tighter threw the hole in the back of the drum breaks after you put it together? You should be able to spin that little gear looking thing while the brakes are together. A little bit at a time.

Have not tried this because I thought the proper way to adjust was to pull the parking brake lever 5 times.

I know the adjust you are talking about. Is there a way to know how many clicks or teeth it should move before its properly adjusted?

 

[Devilmans Hand]

on my 86 4runner there is another place to adjust the parking brake just in front of gas tank on the passenger side under the truck. This shouldn't be an issue though if the parking brake was working beforehand.

It sounds like your shoes might not be centered in relation to the drum if you're getting smells and hot spots.
Did you grease up your adjuster and all the contact points that aren't brake pad material/surface?

 

[toy4x4runner]

I just tighten it until it starts to drag.

 

[packetstormin]

on my 86 4runner there is another place to adjust the parking brake just in front of gas tank on the passenger side under the truck. This shouldn't be an issue though if the parking brake was working beforehand.

It sounds like your shoes might not be centered in relation to the drum if you're getting smells and hot spots.
Did you grease up your adjuster and all the contact points that aren't brake pad material/surface?

I did grease up the adjuster. I was not aware that there where other places to grease.

How can I tell if my shoes are not centered?

 

[packetstormin]

I just tighten it until it starts to drag.

Meaning I should feel a slight drag when I spin the wheel? Should I take the wheel off and adjust and then feel for the drag?

 

[toy4x4runner]

Yeah. And i don't know if this helps with getting the shoes centered up but i always hit the drum in all directions with a rubber mallet after putting it together. You should try and get the shoes close before you put the drum on. Then fine tune threw the hole in the back. And grease everything in there that rubs. Like where the shoes rub on the back plate. Not to heavy on the grease of corse.

 

[toy4x4runner]

Or just get really mad at it and get a rear disk conversion.

 

[packetstormin]

Okay so I made some headway.

The brake light issue was due to the brake fluid being low...

I made a few adjustments and this is where I am at now. So when the parking brake is pulled and I try to spin the tires they are hard to spin now. I have not tried parking it yet on an incline to see if the parking brake will hold. Some of you mentioned that there should be some drag when I spin the rear tires with the parking brake off. Can you guys please elaborate on that. How much drag is there supposed to be ?

 

[packetstormin]

So I drove it around and there is a burnt clutch smell coming from both rear wheel wells. I take this to be the drum shoes getting hot or burning?

Any thoughts on what to adjust?

 

[NorCalBorn]

Adjusters are too far out. If you pull the e-brake 3-5 clicks out you'll just get drag on the drums, by 15-16 clicks at most you should have full lock.

Something has to have come out of adjustment or placement for things to be that far off after a repair.

I don't see the rig in your sig line and am busy w/ family tonight and tomorrow but what year/model so I can grab you some pics or FSM page captures to try to help out.

**If the shoes are new on old drums you'll get some burning smell while they bed into the old deposited material.

 

[packetstormin]

Adjusters are too far out. If you pull the e-brake 3-5 clicks out you'll just get drag on the drums, by 15-16 clicks at most you should have full lock. So by full lock does that mean the rear wheels wont turn or if I park on a slant that means the truck wont move?

Something has to have come out of adjustment or placement for things to be that far off after a repair. I had a guy in my club take a look at the brakes and he said I put them back together correctly

I don't see the rig in your sig line and am busy w/ family tonight and tomorrow but what year/model so I can grab you some pics or FSM page captures to try to help out.I have an 85 4runner and I have the fsm but it doesn't really explain how to adjust or set the brakes.

**If the shoes are new on old drums you'll get some burning smell while they bed into the old deposited material.

The shoes and drums I just reused as they were within spec

 

[NorCalBorn]

Sheesh, I hope the red lettering's for clarity and not being pissed off.

~Yes, by 15-16 clicks there should be little to no rollback. By little I mean once you let off the brake pedal the vehicle will settle slightly.

~Just had to check, I've seen people swap shoes or drums on accident left axle to right axle and if the drums are machined or worn differently it accounts for this possibility b/c each set of shoes is worn to the corresponding drum.

~See if you can give Aaron (WristPin) a call, he can likely help walk you through stuff on a call.

 

[packetstormin]

No, the red lettering is just a clear way to answer your questions. Not pissed off...

 

[packetstormin]

So here are the answers to your questions...

Sheesh, I hope the red lettering's for clarity and not being pissed off. ~Yes, by 15-16 clicks there should be little to no rollback. By little I mean once you let off the brake pedal the vehicle will settle slightly.So I definitely have a problem here. So this is where I am at right now. I will run through what I have done to the rear axles/brakes. So the rear axles where taken apart to install new seals, bearings, gaskets, and new bell housing boots. Put it all back together and had a member check the brakes because it was my first time working on drum brakes. Through axle assembly's back in to truck and bolted it all together and had wife help me bleed brakes. Once the brakes were bled I pulled on the parking brake between 5 and 7 times in order to bed the drum brakes. Every pull consistently was just to easy so I had the wife pull on the parking brake while I was underneath the truck to confirm that the bell housing (crank? not sure that is what it is called) moved and it did perfectly. So at the advice of another member I took the adjusting plugs off and and used that specialized drum brake tool to adjust the drums 4 clicks each. I spun the tires and they didn't really seem to drag. So I decided to try the parking brake again and it seemed to have a little more resistance than before. So maybe I need to adjust the drums another 4 clicks and see where I am at with the parking brake?

~Just had to check, I've seen people swap shoes or drums on accident left axle to right axle and if the drums are machined or worn differently it accounts for this possibility b/c each set of shoes is worn to the corresponding drum.I made sure not to mix them up

~See if you can give Aaron (WristPin) a call, he can likely help walk you through stuff on a call.