Just did some rear brake work and started reading up on adjusting the parking brake. I keep reading that you drive in reverse and continually pull the parking brake till it tightens. So why reverse? I can't wrap my head around how the brake would even know which way it was turning. Staring at the brake I can't grasp why reverse.

 

Not for Toyota`s this worked on older GM cars and others never on Toyota vehicles.

Backing up is what adjusted those older GM and other vehicles.

Our E-Brake adjusts the rear shoes from constant use although it helps to have them adjusted up to start .

At least I always do that.

 

I'm wrapping up a rear brake job too and saw the adjuster bracket in there. My e-brake had gotten to where I had to really yank it for the truck to stay on a hill. I guess it couldn't adjust enough because the shoes were so worn? I noticed during reassembly that I had to back the adjuster nut way down to get the drum back on over the new shoes. Once I get the suspension back together and my Aussie in this weekend I'll see how the e-brake feels.

 

I read the FSM on the adjustment which doesn't mention anything about driving while adjusting. Knowing the mechanism inside the drum with the cog and gear type setup I started wondering why it wasn't adjusting. So I pulled the drum off and watched it while reaching behind the brake and pulling the parking brake cable. The cog was just skipping off the gear. So I pulled the gear mechanism out and realized that it was pretty hard to turn. I cleaned it out along with the threaded part and coated it with graphite and reinstalled it and it worked perfectly. I left the back-end up on the jack and pulled the cable until the brakes engaged but still releasing enough to allow the wheels to turn without resistance. All is well.