Ok, so last night I was replacing the factory speaker in the back of my 4runner when I look over and see the extension cord attached to my shop light slowly tightening and losing slack. I look out the window and I see my tree slowly passing me by. It is then that I realize that I am ROLLING DOWN MY DRIVEWAY while I am sitting in the back of my truck.

Without even thinking I jumped out the back of my truck (yes while its rolling backwards) and tried to catch my driver side door. After the second try I tried to stomp on the brake and missed. If you think its hard to jump into a 4runner with a 3" lift with 33's try doing it while your truck is rolling down a hill. After I successfully pressed down on the brake pedal (which didn't have pressure since the engine was off?) I had to release and reapply the emergency brake.

After swearing and thanking god that my truck didn't take out some innocent kids on their trikes I can't help but wonder why my brakes didn't have pressure when I applied them with the engine off (I've never applied the brakes with my engine off).

I usually put my truck in gear after putting on the emergency brake I can only assume that I didn't pull the brake ENOUGH this time and I obviously didn't have it in gear. If you get anything from reading this make sure and put your truck in gear if you drive a stick even if the emergency brake is on!

Can anyone enlighten me about the brake pedal I can't find anything online.

 

Front disc brakes with rear drums require POWER brakes.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/power-brake.htm

 

Oh it will stop, but with no power if the engine if off. You need to adjust the parking brake.

 

Thanks WAB

 

When you climb under the truck and look at the ebrake setup under the front seats you will see the adjuster for the ebrake. The cables stretch a little over time and periodically you need to tighten it up down there. I believe the adjuster is attached to the front side of the horse shoe collar but I haven't played with one in a long time so I'm not completely sure.

 

hey man next time for safety only DONT JUMP OUT OF A MOVING AUTO!!!

just reach up front and kick it into gear it wont hurt nothing and it will stop you fast!


oh and i love the myspace picture too!! lol

 

someone may correct me if I'm wrong, but the brakes on the 89-95 are self adjusting and the e-brake simply pulls on the lever actuated by the brake cylinder. and there are 'star' gears on the rod from the brake cylinder to the shoe that get tightened whenever the brakes are engaged and the e-brake is activated.
so adjusting the brakes, and e-brake, is done by applying the brakes then pulling the e-brake, then releasing both and repeating.
at least that's how I got my 91 e-brake and brakes working well. My wife looked at me as if i was nuts but it worked.

 

i should try that man buta what if my brake cables are broken and cut? not the rear lines but the parking brake cables

 

If you park brake cables are cut then obviously you would have no E-brake.

 

Hmm. I think your wife might be correct ...

There are two adjustments, both have to be done. The rear (drum) brakes, like all drum brakes, have to be adjusted to compensate for wear. The "star" mechanism pushes the shoes apart until they are just a tiny distance from the drum. This is done (automatically) when you apply the brakes in reverse.

(The front brakes are disc brakes which are inherently "self-adjusting.")

As you said, the emergency brake lever pulls a cable which pulls a lever which bears on one of the brake shoes. First make sure the brake shoe clearance is adjusted as described above (which is "automatic" but can be checked). Then take the slack out of the cable. The FSM says you should get 11-17 clicks on the handle when pulled with 44.1 pounds force.

The adjuster is under the truck, and is different for 4wd and 2wd.

 

Actually the E-brake adjusts the rear brakes on Toyotas. Just as Abe said.

 

I thought I noticed that DC.
The e-brake lever runs between the shoes and the cylinder and spins the star wheel when you pull the e-brake. You can also adjust the star wheel from the backing plate. but like I said, that's on 89 and up. 88's and below have the lever on the outside of the backing plate so they're adjusted differently.
I'm probably still nuts though.

 

yeap.

 

Your brake booster behind your master cylinder is using the vacuum from your intake to assist you in the force needed to push on the pedal.
With the engine not running there is no intake vacuum, so no power brakes. You still have brakes you just gotta push on em with a whole lot more force.