HELP!!! I have a 91 toyota hilux surf... I decided to do my rear brakes this weekend and came across a problem when the right hand side brake became seized. the drum will not budge and the adjuster won't either. The wheel was able to move when I parked it but now i can't even get the vehicle to a shop to get a professionals help!! I have been searching all over the net and haven't come across something that I haven't tried... I am open to any and all suggestions, even if i've tried it.

Have taken the screws off the wheel cylinder to see if it will fall free...

Have attempted to rive back and forth pressing on the breaks attempting to free the breaks...

I feel like taking a bucket of gas and a match to it at this point, so please help me not destroy this fine piece of metal!

 

I had more trouble with one on the passenger side. Ended up getting the adjuster to FINALLY budge a lil, but it was taking so much time. I finally forced the drum off a lil bit at a time and then could get in the top to the adjuster a lil better and was able to loosen it enough to where it would cooperate a lilllll more. I also ended up pulling the coil spring pins, which allowed the lower end of the shoes to fold toward me as I was prying the drum off.

There are probably better ways and ideas coming your way...it's just really slim on response on the weekends, it seems to me at least.

PS> Sometimes, if the adjuster nut on there is seized up a lil, you can put the driver on it, bang it a lil with a hammer and free it up. This requires a lil tricky maneuvering as you have to have something prying back the adjuster arm and another driver on the teeth of the adjuster nut. About every time I banged on it I had to re-set up everything the way I had it as it would knock it loose... But it did work this way in one old Chevy I had. Not to be insulting, cuz i'm not even sure, hahaha....but I think that the one side goes in the opposite of the other in direction on the adjuster, right? Down on the teeth on the driver side and up on the teeth on the pass? Not sure on that, and didn't mean to suggest you don't know what you're doing, lol.... Just throwing things out there.

 

Patience...

Just relax. It's a simple deal these things. If it's suddenly not turning then you likely aren't doing something right. Probably just not using a sufficient prying tool(like an actual brake adjusting spoon).

If you are doing everything right, then there's still hope. You probably didn't clean/lube the adjusting mechanism before re-installing the drums. So now that you've overtightened it, it's going to need some persuasion of a different sort. I'd suggest you're choice of spray penatrant/lubricant, and let it sit for awhile.

They sometimes get stuck, and/or are hard to adjust. It's gotta be pretty rare for one to totally freeze up solid. It would have to be in pretty sad shape to do that(ie massively corroded or bone dry threads). So make sure you clean it with a wire brush and lube it real good after you get the drum loose.

UP = Tighten
DOWN = Loosen

 

im sure you already checked this, but make sure the bellcrank that the parking brake cable connects to isnt pulled out. on the drum itself there are two tapped holes opposite each other, find some m8x1.25 (correct me if im wrong there) bolts and tighten them in while tapping with a hammer or something around the edges of the drum, this will help force it off

 

thanks mud hippy but i do know what i'm doing! i have not taken off the drum at all! so the problem has nothing to do with proper lubrication! unfortunately it seized sometime between me fixing the left side and taking the wheel off the right side!

chefyota4x4 You have been very helpful... I tried your suggestions and it's helped just going to take some more elbow grease... or i'm going to break the drum and replace it with a new one

 

The hippy's a knowlegeable guy.... You definitely wanna lube it as you go, especially if you're taking a lil while in between to hit it. Then, yes, DEFINITELY use a good grease in there on the threads and in the cap.

The UP-Down thing,.... I just seem to remember them being set up the same way on both sides, except for the adjuster thigymadoer! lol. What I mean is, and was asking someone like Mud Hippy...... "When you switch sides, you always turn them the same way? Up for tightening/adjusting them out and then down for loosening/releasing from the drum?" Sorry, just trying to clarify that. This is why I do one at a time and take extra care to lay everything out the way I took it out.

Ebrakes off, right? hahaha, jk.

 

PS> .... maybe one of the others there could inform me....

When you replace the shoes on one side, then go to the next... isn't the other drum USUALLY a lil more tight do to the pressure you just created by forcing the pistons in? Just curious... sorry if it's a silly question, but that seems to have happened to me more than once, lol.

 

lol... you have no idea how many times i was asked if I had the ebrake on! I may be blonde but not that blonde I did get it loose and off! The tapping of the driver to loosed the adjuster worked! yes I agree that lubrication is key ... I just wasn't able to get the drum off in the first place and this is the first time since i've owned this vehicle that I've attempted to take this drum off... I'm not replacing the break shoes because they are fine... I'm just replacing the adjuster on both sides because the one on the left hand side of the vehicle had worn out and when I got my tires done my tire guy mentioned it. The one on the right hand side looks as though it had seized open due to age.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions!!!

 

Glad to hear you got it figured out Next time try putting two bolts in the two bolt holes across from each other around the inside diameter on he front of the drum. (That's a mouthful, lol!) Ne-ways, if you tighten them both equally at the same time it will force the drum off the shoes just like that. When I did the rear end on my 95' I couldn't get the drums to budge an inch, that worked like a charm tho! Those holes are made for such a reason I believe, great job otherwise

 

Sweeet! Hope the rest goes smoothly(install, etc).

 

FYI everybody...those holes on the drums that are threaded for bolts ARE NOT for pushing the drums off the hubs. That's a perfectly good way to strip/ruin the threads. They are there for attatching a puller to pull the drums off.

Like this one for example.

Or like this one here.


Well, theoretically it all gets pushed back to the MC. Some movement of the opposing side WC pistons may be possible temporarily. But it wouldn't be something that would cause them to be "pressurized" permanently. Or that could cause the shoes to become so tight that they can be backed off via the adjuster. If that weren't the case, then your brake shoes would stayed lock up every time you let off the brake pedal. Instead of letting go like they do. What causes it to happen like that are little things called brake shoe return springs.

 

Makes sense! OOh and that's a really cool Predator Part 6 Looking set of Puller tools! lol. Especially the last one... never seen that type. Similar, but just not the same. Thanks for clarifying that... yeah, that makes sense. Also, I had no idea that one is not supposed to press in the pistons on ABS systems... that you have to drain fluid out first and even open the bleeders? Anyway, I worked through it on the CRV I did, can't remember it all, but IT'S IMPORTANT to do it right the first time, I agree.... after all, IT'S LIFE OR DEATH, THAT'S ALL! lol.

 

And in a perfect world, we should all just convert over to disc brakes and full float axles when it comes time to service shoes. J/k, thank you hippy for correcting me on that one, never thought of it like that, even though it did work, lol.

 

Aren't both of those pullers shown designed to be mounted to the lug studs on drums that have integrated hubs? I've used the first one on rear drums on front wheel drive cars and the second on AMC and Jeep rears where the axle shaft protrudes out of the drum and gives a nice strong area to push off of.

Using the little threaded holes of a slide on drum with a puller will put as much pressure on them as driving it off with little bolts.

That's just my experience.

 

ChefYota: Not to hijack the post, but it sounds like jenni got it..what did you say about resetting abs pistons? Ive never heard that and I'm wondering if I've been under a rock too much.