Raer Brakes, 1986 Camry

Where's the rear brake adjuster hole? I've seen them on every drum brake Toyota I've ever had. Should be near the top on the inside. Could you 'adjust' them loose?

Charles

I found a Chilton's for my Corolla and looked up Drum Brakes.

1. It's REAR brakes, not raer
2. After a week of 72 Degree days, today decides to be 90
3. I'm lazy. I bust my hump all week...if the drums had just come off, I would have continued
4. I'm working on jacks and jack stands. Now that I see what I have to do, I don't have the patience.
5. I hate drum brakes. All of my current cars have discs.

So, I think I'll just take the car to work and pay someone who KNOWS what he's doing to do it. I have only done drums once and I hate them. But, the drums came right off on the Tercel, so I didn't have to try to back off the adjuster (which is in an ODD place on this car...)

I'm sure one of the techs has the proper tools...

Yeah, I pulled out a Chilton's for my Corolla and looked up Drum Brakes. I posted a response to my own question, but since I'm running Windows today, of course I crashed out before it got posted...

Let's just say it's too hot, I'm too lazy, everything on this car is in an awkward place to be trying this with jackstands. I just can't get in there.

THis time, I'll PAY someone who knows what he's doing. Just too much of a pain today...

I thought they were on the botton on the inside?...just adjust them till the shoes are loose then the drums should slide right off.

OK, by now you've seen the posts about adjusting the rear shoes so they're loose.

The drum is probably rusted around the hub. Perhaps you can borrow a drum puller from the shop or one of the techs..

If you have an acetylene torch, try heating the face of the drum around the hub while tapping it with a hammer until you hear a very loud pop (enough to make you jump because you think you just destroyed something). This method is a last resort because you heat up the grease in the wheel bearings and warp the drum.

Stick to OEM drums because they have the holes for the bolts and anti-seize the hub where the drum contacts.

But...but..it HAS OEM Drums. Mom wouldn't do it any other way! I gave up. I'd have to get upside down on the ground, for some reason the jack that held my 4400 LB supra up was shaky with her car, and my knees can't take crawling around on the ground any more. Oh, and I did have a jackstand, too.

I ahve all the parts, just not the patience. If I were even 5 years younger or had access to a lift it might be different. (The new owners don't want anybody but the techs under a lift...)

See if you can borrow a drum puller - it looks like a gear puller, only bigger.

Even if you can spin the rear wheel, you may have to un-adjust the rear brakes because the shoes may have a ridge worn in them that prevents the drum from coming off unless the adjuster is all the way in. Pop off the oval plug behind the backing plate, stick a screwdriver or brake adjusting spoon in, and click away. If the drum won't spin, then click the other way.

I remember dropping by the shop one day, and everyone in the shop is wearing blue bump caps (look like hard hats but not designed to take the same punishment a hard hat can). They made me put one on before I could enter the shop as well. Turns out one of the techs bumped his head, put in a claim for workmen's comp, and the K's made everyone wear bump caps. That lasted about a month, I don't remember why they discontinued the practice.

This seem to be what has happened. No matter how hard I pulled, it was like they were held on with springs. Just would not come off. According to the manual , you have to take one screwdriver and hold the lever back, and then another and move the adjuster gear. On my back. in the heat. Upside down. $65 an hour sounds good to me! Unless I can get some lift time.

With the new owners, things are week to week.

That is the no-stress solution!

Hopefully, you won't have to wear a bump cap when detailing a car!

That sentence says it all..."held on with springs"...that's the brake shoe mounts that you're feeling...that springy feeling means that the drum is now free of the wheel bearing unit...it's now the brake shoes that's holding you up...all you need now is to get the adjuster loose enough and the damned drum WILL come off...it's just as someone suggested, the shoes have worn a ridge in the drums and you haven't got the adjuster loose enough yet to let them ride over it....You're gonna need to turn those drums down I'd say...

Good luck... :)

Well, I got fed up yesterday, and it rained today. I used to work at CarQuest, remember? Drums, $15 each. Shoes, $15, hardware kit, $9.

I know how you feel!... :)

IIRC, I'm about 25-30 years younger than you, but I tore my knees up 2 years ago with the Celica, and a couple weeks ago doing the brakes on the Supra didn't help them either. And I mean I really tore em up. The cartilidge in one is almost torn right in half. But, I saved $250!!!

So, since things didn't come right apart, I'll get one of the many people I know to do it. Even at full hourly rate, it'll still be pretty cheap.

This is my Mom's car, BTW. She bought it new in '86, and has about 83,000 miles on it. I've seen one nicer recently; it was near mint. I bet it only has 40-50,000 on it.

Well, it's not great having a bad physical defect, I really know about that, been very healthy all my long life, passed aircrew medicals for 26 years...now have bad lungs and use oxygen. Anyway I'm sure some are worse off, at least I have no pain, don't have a bit of arthritis etc...cheers...

A rubber mallet - larger is better - may be the ticket. What I've seen is that the drum sticks to the outer end of the axle shaft, and needs to be pursuaded to come off -- that's where the mallet comes in ...