Rear drum brakes

[saki302]

This may not be a cheap trick exactly- more of a 'save your money' tip.

My truck, with 180K miles on the original rear shoes, seemed like it could use a new set of shoes. The brakes squeaked a little one night so my friend suggested it might be the rears (he put a brand new set of front rotors and pads before selling it to me).

Today I finished installing my TRD trans cooler, and pulled the old brake shoes.
There was at least HALF the shoe thickness remaining on the pads! I changed them anyways (autozone brake shoes re only 20 bucks), but geez they last a long time!
I figure, they're good for 300K miles!

There was a TON of brake dust in there. My driveway looked like a mini front-yard volcano erupted, but it cleaned up with the hose easy enough. I may try to bend the proportioning valve wire a bit to get even more braking in the rear- it obviously couldn't hurt to be used more :D

-Dave

[Goldentaco]

instead of bending the bpv rod you could just adjust the starwheel on each rear brake as well.

[saki302]

I adjusted the star wheel to be about as tight as I'd like it.

The difference this makes is the parking brake engages with a short pull. I'm not sure if the affects rear braking much though- the proportioning valve is what determines how much force is applied to the rear drums. I may buy a threaded rod and extend the proportioning rod properly instead of bending it though.

-Dave

[toyguy]

And I thought I was the only one. 101K miles and there is almost no wear on my rear pads. Replaced front pads 82K.

[burwen]

And I thought I was the only one. 101K miles and there is almost no wear on my rear pads. Replaced front pads 82K.
it may not be that they last for ever, but rather that they never get tightened, so your fronts perform all the stopping and the rears never get used. however, since the stopping ratio is 85 fron 15 rear (pretty sure anyway), this could explain why the shoes last so long...cause they don't have to do much.

[d33pt]

damn that makes me feel a little better.. i have 145k and was thinking i should check my rear brakes before they're metal on metal...