I have read through the other posts about rear brakes and havent really found an answer so here goes my problem.

I was getting pulsing vibration from my brakes. I originally thought it was the front rotors. WRONG, with new brembos and pads it was still doing the same thing. So then i went to the rear. Ebrake linkages seem fine. BUT the drum on the drivers side has hot spots where you can tell the metal is a different color in different places from being very hot. No hot spots on the passenger side. So i replaced the drums thinking that the person before me towed and possibly overheated them. Now about 3-4weeks later the same thing is starting to happen. The vibration totally went away when i replaced the rear drums and the same vibration is back. Does anyone have any experience with this or any insight for anything in particular to fix.

Thanks, Jason

 

BTW this is a 1997 3rd Gen 4runner

 

2 questions:

1. Are the shoes worn evenly?

2. Are the rear brakes adjusted properly? If not, or if you don't know, respond here and I will help you out.

 

Yes, the shoes are worn evenly, and i adjusted the brakes by using reverse and pulling the ebrake lever a few times.

 

Wheel bearings caused a vibration in my rear end.....replaced them.......no more problemos.

 

Hi,
I was wondering if you had change the wheel bearing and cured the problem? I believe this is happening to me as well.. we change the rear drum.. but its still vibrating... do you know the part number for the wheel bearing?

Thanks!!

 

I did not change the wheel bearings as of yet. It doesnt appear to be my problem. Im going to be changing out the shocks and struts first because they have 120,000 on them anyway and my ride seems really good on extremely smooth concrete anything else it sucks

 

How much drag is there when you turn the rear wheel manually? If it is adjusted properly you should be able to give it a good spin and it will stop within one revolution. If it stops right away then the brakes are set to tight, if it spins more than a revolution then it is too loose and the brakes will be grabby.

 

Ill check that this weekend. But if they are too tight how do you get them to stay in check? They auto adjust when you use the ebrake right?

 

I personally do not like the e-brake adjustment method because it doesn't work as well as adjusting the star wheel with a flathead. Regardless, you still have a vibration problem. Wheel bearings going bad on these is extremely rare. At least that's what all the Toyota guys tell me. I had a parts guy, service manager, and a shop foreman tell me that. I tend to believe them considering I could have been potential business for them...