Hi all ... this is my first post to this site... I generally just read. I am currently putting rear brake shoes on my '85 4runner 4wd ... I purchased a hardware kit and shoes. I have installed the brakes making sure to put the longer shoe in the back and putting everything in its place. My brake drum will not slide onto the new shoes. Is it possible that I have the wrong shoes that are slightly bigger than the ones im supposed to have??

Any help here would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks,
JD

 

did you back off the auto adjuster? as you use the brakes the auto adjuster will screw outward to put the shoes closer to the drum. so now that you have the new shoes they're going to hit if the adjuster is still set up for the old shoes.

 

Yeah .. I reset the auto adjuster ... I even let the pressure off the wheel cylinder to make sure they where seatting properly.

 

A bit of a reach, but are you sure the adjusters are back on in the right place? I had a shop do the brakes on my '85 4Runner a long time back and had serious braking problems including the truck wanting to change lanes under hard braking. I took it back a couple times and kept getting "we can't find anything wrong with it" so I finally got off my butt and took a look for myself.
When I was finally able to get the drum off, I wound up stripping one hole on the drum where you insert a screw to get it to push off, I found that the adjuster had been put onto the wrong part of the brake pad pushing the pads out so far that they were in constant contact with the drum and just generally messing stuff up.
So, maybe recheck how you have the adjuster installed? BTW, did you strip the adjusters down and clean them up? They hardly work when in good shape and I've found they pretty much won't work at all if rusty/dirty.

 

I'll check that tonight ... thanks.

 

Hi , make sure the handbrake (emergency brake I think you guys call it) is fully wound off on the adjuster rod under the floor . If not this will hold the shoes out like the auto adjuster will do .

 

Just a followup on that problem... it seems Johnny Cash put my 4runner together and had parking brake parts from a different year in there along with who knows what else crossed in also... its all back to '85 now. For the trouble I had with this job .. would have been easier to get an aftermarket disc brake kit I think.

Thanks for all the replys,
Jeff