Parking brake reinstall?

[little_joe]

Did the rear rotors and pads on my '07 GX, and the driver's side parking brake was a major PITA when removing the rotor - seems it was mostly seized up and wouldn't adjust. Turns out the forward spring washer had gone missing - this is the slotted washer over the ~1" spring. While I wait to get a new one, anyone have tips for reinstalling the entire parking brake assembly without removing the axle? Or is it as straightforward as it looks?

 

[little_joe]

To answer my own question, reinstalling the parking brake is simple - once you have everything in just the right spot, recite the proper incantations, and have 3-4 hands available. There's a great post somewhere on ToyotaNation about it..............

 

[Sam Stewart]

The inside-the-rotor e-brakes are a major pain on the solid rear axle trucks. You really do need about 4 hands. Unfortunately, you can barely fit one in there because it's so tight. You are not alone... all the techs hate them too.

 

[little_joe]

I -honestly- did not touch the passenger side ebrake. When I removed the rotor from that corner, I adjusted the ebrake in, the rotor slid right off, new one slid right on; installed pads, reinstalled caliper, done in 30-40 mins start to finish. A few days later, that corner started making noises, so I removed the rotor. The forward pin washer-spring-cap on that side had fallen apart and the parts were bouncing around inside the rotor, and the shoe was dragging.

WTF! wtf wtf wtf? I ended up tidying up that cap, brazed in some filler in the slot so it'd stay in place, and reassembled. This time, I was able to do it with only 2 hands and in a reasonable amount of time.

I am very disappointed in the design, it's unnecessarily complex and so many pieces parts have to be just so else forget about it. If they fall apart again, I am going to have a tech suffer through a full rebuild of them.

@Sam Stewart , I am relieved to hear the techs hate them too, that makes me feel a little better.

 

[GXO]

They have been equally pissing off Toyota owners for decades without a major redesign