Hi members! Question for those of you with much more experience than myself-
I'm planning to attack my first 'major' job and replace the rear axle seal that's leaking - unfortunately on a budget so unable to properly do this we an axle re-build, so fingers crossed a new seal holds me over for a bit until I can afford to do the right way - also doing rear diff breather mod while under there. As I'll be replacing the rear brakes shoes since they have been exposed to gear oil, I wanted to ask, is it required I also replace the drums or can they be cleaned/re-surfaced?
If needing to be replaced, is there an acceptable OEM-alternative? I see that OEM shoes are the #1 preference of most everyone on here to use instead of big-box-store brands, but wanted to see if that was also the same for the drums?
Any other points I'm missing on this job(s) I should pay attention to? Thanks for the words of advice!

You can reuse the drums provided they haven't been drastically damaged like running the brake pads down to the metal. Only use OEM shoes. You will regret using aftermarket.

I have a video that @JZiggy and I made together that will help you out.

Since the question remains is seal fixed, go cheap on shoes to meet budget demands.
Drums use what ya got, clean em good with brake-clean acetone cleaner that leaves no residue.
120 or close grit sandpaper to remove built up pad material scuff em up good clean em again.
GTG. No time for being a parts snob lol.

When I was in the trade, aftermarket brake shoes were oversized to compensate
for drum wear. If they don't fit, you have pristine drums, so buy the OEM
shoes or grind the drums to match.

I took my drums in to a couple of shops to see if they would measure or cut them and they looked at me like I was from outer space. They said most people just throw them out and buy new ones, so I took them home and screwed the throw away economy out of a couple hundred bucks.

Haha, looks like I'll be doing the same!

Got it!

May just get both and figure out what fits/works - but I'll be retaining the old drums!


Thanks mtbtim! Very helpful as always - really enjoy your videos also!

Yep, that's the main problem. The aftermarket shoes never fit right. It seems pretty ridiculous to make the shoes bigger than OEM because they are adjustable. I guarantee the adjuster will push the shoes out far enough until you're metal on metal. There's no need to oversize the brake shoes.

You know the seal job is good by verifying a proper mating of the seal with the inner retainer by either doing a sharpie test or grease test. I've done lots of rear axle seal jobs for people and they all got OEM brake shoes. The problem with aftermarket shoes is they never fit worth a shit. The gear oil doesn't work its way into the brakes overnight. After he completes the job and drives it for a while, he can simply check for the integrity of the seal by pulling the ABS sensor, turning the axle and seeing if gear oil laps up onto the ABS tone ring.

Putting seal in cock-eyed "out of square" to axle leak takes +- 6 months and/or miles to show up.
Can be hard to catch looking through sensor hole grease test.
If when grease washed bearing goes could take out new OE shoes. Money lost.
OP made it sound as he needed/wanted a low budget fix with some reliability for the short term.
Used DIY dressed drums aftermarket shoes fits the bill, save for full OE redo.
OE hardware has the adjustability to compensate for aftermarket size, adjust as needed.

1st 3rd gen rear axle seal rodeo 18 yrs. ago friends rides in between. 1st drum brake rodeo 4 yr. old 1968 Camaro
H/S Sophomore, Disc swap asap.

I do believe in doing this job right and complete, but I understand you cant always due to budget. I helped a friend who was also on a tight budget, this was his daily driver, we pulled the leaking axle, installed napa seal and shoes and he drove it for many months before we did it correctly with new oem bearings etc.....he even did wheel cylinders

also not everyone's commute is the same, he prob did 20 miles a day

Well, I reckon we will agree to disagree.

If a seal installed poorly takes 6 months to show up, that means the seal install wasn't all that bad. It takes a while for gear oil to work it's way through the bearing and into the brakes. It doesn't happen that fast. There's no doubt in my mind he can catch the issue before it contaminates his new brake shoes. Once enough gear oil has accumulated in that space between the seal and bearing, you can easily see it collect on the ABS tone ring. The OP will simply have to check it every so often to see if his repair is holding.

All I know is what people have reported. With the adjuster fully backed off, they couldn't fit the drums over the aftermarket shoes. What brand they were, I don't know, but I've heard this complaint enough times to know I'm never going to bother with aftermarket shoes. I think the OPs idea of buying both and having the OEM shoes at the ready in case the aftermarket shoes don't fit right is a good idea so his rig isn't out of commission for longer than necessary. I've heard about poor fitment of parking brake shoes for other Toyota/Lexus applications for newer models with rear disk brakes. Aftermarket is a bad, bad idea, unless you really like delays in finishing the job by having to drive to your local Toyota/Lexus dealer and hope they have them in stock.

But, if the OP wants to take your advice with aftermarket shoes, that's his prerogative.

I’d keep the old shoes, but it’s not enough to spray them with brake clean and wipe them off. I tried this on motorcycle brake shoes and it didn’t go well.

I believe the grease saturated the top layer of material. To be safe you should sand off the top layer that might be saturated with gear oil, the new surface will bed to the drums with use.

I’m not fully against aftermarket shoes, I’d go with Akebono (Toyota owns them) if they offer them, or maybe Reybestos if they have good reviews. But Toyota parts will always be the safest option, I bought a set years ago with the expectation they’d increase in price more than inflation (an assumption that was proven correct)

Take your drums to O'Reilly's. If there's enough meat left, they will resurface them for around $25 per drum. Had mine done last year and they work fine.

.....

But all they have to measure the meat is a tape measure.