What Am I Missing?

So first time doing brakes. The passenger side went amazingly well compared to my driver side experience. No matter what I do the shoes seem to rub even when at zero with the self adjuster.

I took the driver side back apart. I compared to passenger side. I looked at my starting picture. I did different springs for the heck of it. I can’t figure it out.

I need smart eyeballs. The part numbers on the pads match both sides. They all looked the same.

The biggest difference I found was that the self adjusters from Raybestos, despite ordering same kit, one was silver/gold and the other was gold/gold.

The silver/gold one is on driver side. No matter how I seem to position, or whether I use green or yellow spring, and no matter how I position the spring. It rubs. I feel like this is it but I’ve now spent three dumb hours on this one side.

Driver shoes so tight that couldn’t slide drum on. Backplate had a pinch in one spot that you might see in photos. I did bend that outward so that’s not the issue. This is for sure shoe rubbing/blocking before I can even slide the drum all the way on.

Driver Before:



Driver Now:









Happy Passenger?:

 

Swap adjusters and see if the problem follows.
Or put old adjuster back in to see if it works. Compare them side by side. This should eliminate the adjuster if you have the same results.

Old or new drums?
If new swap drums and confirm if both do not fit on the driver side. If one does and the other doesn't you have the wrong drum for the driver.

 

Are those different cylinders? Looks wider?

 

If all else fails, sandpaper can be your friend on those drum brake shoes. Man I hate drum brakes.

 

There is a rear disc brake conversion kit.

 

Agreed!

 

Hmm. I like puzzles. Can't you spin the star adjuster and back the shoes off a bit? I know that's only part of your issue but I'm curious.

 

Check your Bell Crank adjustment. In fact, maybe even unclip the parking brake cables altoghther 'til you get the brakes adjusted right, and then follow the FSM procedure to adjust the parking brake.

I had a similar experience recently when I did mine, and it turned out that the top spring had come unhooked behind the parking brake lever where I couldn't see it, allowing the shoes to open more than they should have

 

Also, change out the adjuster to the original one to see if it makes a difference.

It may be the camera angle/distortion, but it looks like the backing plate might bent in spots (did you try to pry the drums off?). Check that the drums aren't rubbing on the backing plate.

 

The Star Adjusters are specific to each side as they have different threads. One is a left hand thread and the other a right which probably is why they are color coded.

I did my drums one side at time and reused my old adjuster as they were in good shape. Lubed them up nicely.

We had one member who did his drums simultaneously and got the parts mixed up. He ended up mixing the Star Adjusts on the wrong sides during put back. After a few days of driving his drums were locking and smoking. Unsure what he did he was perplexed. Ended up he finally figured it out.

The Star Adjust is a self adjusting drum brake device. It should only adjust one way by itself with A PROPERLY ADJUSTED PARKING CABLE. Every pin, clip, arm, cable connection, and turnbuckle is a lever point. Make sure everything is unsiezed and then lube the crap out of it. Leave a wad of grease on everything. MolyB on the metal and Silglyde on the rubber.

The fix here? Depending on the condition of the old Star Adjusters, I’d consider putting them back on as they are very specific in design. Figuring out the placement is up to the user. I believe the driver side is clockwise and pass side is counter clockwise TO TIGHTEN (when looking from front to back). Reverse to loosen.

I bought NAPA Kit to do my drums and only used the horseshoe clip and big tension shoe spring. Everything else looked inferior and slightly different. I learned most all of this from reading. Rest of the stuff my Golden Hands showed me.

 

I volunteered to work today, so some answers now and some attempts later.

New Toyota drums. Which claim to not be side dependent. Also, what was on there does not seem to have been Toyota drums.

Adjuster seems to be same size as what was there. But was too hungry and tired last night to attempt to swap. Will attempt a legit swap over lunch.

I did the Raybestos WC37690 which claim to be a fit for the 05 DC Tundra, and do look like same size. Everything did line up but will examine closer if SA swap later doesn’t do it.

It’s bottomed out right now. Can’t go any less.

I will inspect this closer this afternoon when attempting SA swap. Right now the cable is fairly loose and isn’t engaged. Either way I need to adjust it because it doesn’t work currently so won’t be any harm in disconnecting entirely for now.

Not the camera angle, it was bent prior to me starting this. I did bend it back out in one spot. When I removed the old drum it slid off no issue so I’m not sure how it got bent but was prior to the work I did. AngelEmoji.jpg

Past JPink knew enough to order correctly, Present JPink had just enough dumb luck to associate properly. Silver/Gold is Raybestos H12584 which is Rear, Left side.

I ordered two of the Raybestos H17343 hardware kits which don’t seem to be side specific. It might not hurt to acquire the Toyota one from dealer, if they have some on hand, and just compare.

Thanks all! I’m going to try and attempt some of this over lunch and the rest tonight.

 

As an update....

3 minutes into revisiting this I tapped the shoes upwards and solved it. Somehow I apparently had not positioned these right. Multiple times. Seemed to solve it before the pizza even arrived tonight.




Takeaways: definitely should’ve revisited my parts ahead of this. Lucked out getting the SA on the correct side. Should’ve stopped for a dinner break on Thanksgiving instead of telling myself, “I can eat after I get the face greased up like PHM.” and spiraling into madness.

If I could buy a round of beers for you all, I would.

 

Glad you got it solved

 

Nice! What you did was align the Mojo.

 

Looks like you forgot the Silglyde on the contact points where the shoes meet the drum backer. Should be 4-5 contact points (bump outs) on the backer plate. Also, Silglyde the contacts where the shoe meets the cylinder plunger (12 o’clock) and the bracket contact at 6 o’clock. Make a huge difference in quietness as well as performance feel.

 

Interesting. I did put it in the backing plate and hub but not elsewhere.

 

@Professional Hand Model pulled everything off and added in some grease on the points you highlighted.

How we feeling?

 

If you ever watch an old fart doing his umpteenth drum brake job, you'd see him give both shoes a good open-palm heel whack a few times and watch him smile if the assembly makes a sproing-click sound.

 

Smack it into submission!

 

Looking good! Should be a quiet rear brake system especially in reverse. Had brake service done about 8 years ago and the guy didn’t use grease. Squealed from the very first back up and every time thereafter when backing up.

 

I’ve had squeaky brakes in the past and I wish I would’ve been smart/brave/empowered enough to investigate the issue myself.

Now to just bleed them. Again. Thanks for having an Eagle Eye PHM!