3rd Gen's with ABS don't have the LSPV, but non ABS trucks have this

 

I don't agree with needing to be going in reverse (or moving at all). I've heard that mentioned by some over and over, but have never read it in any Toyota documentation.
Having overhauled and repaired Toy rear drums many times, it doesn't look to me like "reverse" (or moving at all) has anything to do with it either. All you should need to do is pull the e-brake lever. Simply using your e-brake on a regular basis should keep the brakes properly adjusted. If not, then there is something wrong that needs to be fixed. Sometimes the bell crank pivots get gummed up or rusty and hang up, etc.

 

i had sim prob with my 90 i went to 5 mechanics same old thing seemed my fronts were working harder till i met the mechanic he told me take it in to his shop , well dont know what the part is called on my 90 on the rear axle theres like a bleeder tube , he told me he did a test and it was at 500 lbs inthe rear where my front is at 1200 big difference so he adjusted the pressure to 800lbs now i can stop on a dime with no prob no spongy feeling i was having for over a year funny thing one of the five was at a dealership and they didnt know the prob, guess its good to know a good honest mechanic

 

I've always just jacked the rear axle up, put my truck in neutral, and adjusted the rears by hand. I probably do this every other oil change, or 10K miles. I've never heard of backing up and pumping the e-brake, but I"ll give it a shot next time. I don't necessarily agree that just using the e-brake without any backwards movement will work at all. I use my e-brake all the time and the thing only gets weaker as the miles rack up in between adjustments. I think the plus to jacking the rear axle up and adjusting the rear brakes is that you can dial in the rears a little more. When properly adjusted, you should have to work to spin the rear tires. My buddy is a ASE master mechanic for toyota and showed me that I was always adjusting the rears to little, as he could spin the rear tires easily. With the proper adjustment, the rear tires should be hard to spin be hand, and I usually only can get 3-4 clicks on my e-brake with a moderate pull.

 

I was with you...until I tried it out. I use my parking brake everywhere I go (Despite the naysayers about it freezing). Figure I pull the leverl 2-5 times a day depending if I have any errands to run. Sure enough, I pumped the lever while rolling backwards and I'm back to 5-6 clicks.

I wouldn't say my braking is much better, but the pedal is firm up top.

 

So you'd rather have dragging brakes than a little extra pedal/lever travel?
Are your wheels/drums hot after driving like this? Especially just after re-doing your adjustment?

 

I found this interesting:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/drum-brake2.htm

 

Good ole Dad... Hasn't steered me wrong yet... I didn't know why, but I knew it worked, that's why I shared it. I thought it was more common knowledge, but obviously it wasn't.

 

The only reason it may help is that it will rotate the shoes in the opposite direction from normal and introduce a bit more play allowing the adjuster to do more. That can't be bad at all. I'll try it too. GM brakes work in a different method. With those, driving in reverse and applying the brakes adjusts them and the handbrake does nothing. I think that's where the misnomer comes from.

Toyota drums (esp in the 3rd Gen) are really troublesome. I'm glad they went to disc in the 4th. I still have to say, make sure the adjuster lever in the drum can return fully.

 

It helps if you read the whole article...

Our brakes are of the latter mentioned design.

 

Either way, pump your E-brake if you want to adjust the rear brakes. Can we at least agree on that?

 

Andy

Do you think it will work on the 4th Gen as well? It has a disc drum combo in the back. Disc for normal braking and a little drum just or the e brake. My e brake is pretty lame at the moment. Obviously normal braking is just fine.

 

Dunno. Try it and see. All drums should adjust w/ the e-brake.

 

I'm not much of a mechanic, but is it possible to convert the rear brakes on a 3rd gen to discs? If it is possible, how involved is it, like a 3 or 4 day ordeal?

 

What would be nice is too adapt the 4th Gen discs but that is really tough. The housing flanges are different. Some people use modifed GM front rotors and Eldorado calipers (but they are junk). I've schemed on using Ford calipers which have a handbrake bracket. There are many calipers out there with the ebrake setup. Even my wife's Altima has them but they are way to small. For the time I'll suffer with the drums. They vibrate on and off. Usually when they are a bit cold but some times when they are hot. Could be out of round delaminating tires too.

 

What about a swap from a sequoia.

They make a rear disc kit for the Tundra, not sure if they use the same axel flange or not though.

 

The sequoia uses a different axle flange, so it would be very difficult, and you would have to do a lot of fabrication to make it work.

 

I don't even drive mine in reverse to adjust them. I can just sit in the garage with the engine off and pump the handle. I can feel and slightly hear the clicks as the adjuster snaps over the adjuster wheel in the brake drum. then I use the slight grade on my driveway to test that it holds it at 5-7 clicks.

 

yea, that happened to me once. pissed me off cause I had to manually unadjust them throught the hole in the backing plate and redo it. So I'm careful not to get them too tight anymore.

 

I was under the impression that Tundra's used the same axel flange though.