My wifes 97 runner has new pads and the lines have been bled. Her brake pedal is not as responsive as it should be. It never has been since we have had the vehicle. I drove my friends 2000 runner and his brakes are so much more responsive. His brakes engage sooner than my runner. On mine the pedal goes about half way to the floor before you feel the pads catch. Is there an adjustment for the pedal response?

 

Hey 505, I haven't noticed you posting on the board before. Have you tried adjusting your rear brakes? You may find the pedal you are looking for with a simple rear adjustment.

 

How do you do that? I think I have the same problem as 505taco.

 

I didn't think of that. Isn't there a dial on the back of the drums to push them out a bit? That's the only adjustment I have ever done on drums. As for the posting, I had my handle changed recently. All the other boards I frequent I am 505taco and my handle for Yotatech was different. It was time to make all the usernames the same for consistency. Yota's was Pitchfork. We need to hook up some time and do some wheelin. I am heading to the Jemez this evening to poach an offroad session and take a dip in the hotsprings in the morning.

 

Yeah, if you look on the back of your rear drums you have a rubber plug (it's kind of oblong shaped). Remove the plug and use a screw driver or better yet a brake adjuster tool to turn the dial. I usually jack up the rear wheels so I can spin the wheel as I adjust them to check drag. You want to adjust them until they barely drag on the drum. Make sure to adjust both sides evenly.

505, we should go wheelin' sometime. I will be down for a while since I just got back from the CO4RJ, got to keep the wife happy.

 

Looks like that did the trick. Made the adjustment and Oh Yes, Much Better!. Thanks AbqJim. Much appreciated.

 

Another suggestion should it come back again. Check your drums/wheels for oil! I have oil splattered all over my rear drivers wheel and it's either an axle seal or a wheel cylinder leaking (again). Brakes drive me nuts!

 

No Problem

 

I have this problem right now and will be pulling the axel soon.

 

question... so when braking to come to a complete stop...is it only using the rear brakes and not the front?....since adjustments was done on the rear and not on the front?....clueless here? :pat:

 

Usually brakes are set to send 60-70% of the braking power to the front brakes because the vehicle is usually heavier in the front, I'm not sure what Toyota sets them at for sure. The front have no adjustment they basically adjust automatically. The rear do have adjustment and can wear to where they are not adjusted as tight as one might prefer. So, you sometimes have to adjust the rear by hand. Unless of course, you regularly use the parking brake (like if you have a manual transmission). If the parking brake is functioning properly it is configured to adjust the rear brakes when you apply it, so your rear brakes should stay in adjustment.

I hope that helps.

 

can anyone please show me a pic of this oblong shape rubber stuff on back of the rear drum?!.

 

That's one thing alot of brake places dont' do when you take your vehicle to get serviced and often times the customer complains "it just doesn't feel responsive as it used to." It only take 5 minutes each wheel to do (unless you got a seized grove rim on your drum, where the shoes made it, then it takes a bit to take off, or you have a rear LSD, where you have to use a caliper to check clearance) and just don't understand why alot of places don't do it.