Sooo my parking brake has never really worked. I'm ok with that, I live where its mostly flat so meh. However I showed my buddy how laughable my parking brake is in actually holding me back by rolling backwards down a slight slope for maybe 5 feet and then driving back up the 5 feet with it on. This was in my back alley next to my garage so I was parking right after and heard some brake creaking.

After messing around it sounds like the parking brake is on slightly on both sides. When starting to move under idle you can hear the brakes creak as the car starts to move. My fear is that they are touching a bit and will heat up and do some damage if I drive with them like this.

What does not make sense is if they don't hold the car back when the parking brake is full on why the hell would they be slightly on when it's off? Did I stretch something slightly? But then shouldn't they just hold the thing back even less, not engage when off?

Since I can hear it on both sides do I...

A) Loosen them off even more at the pads using the star wheel on each side?
B) Loosen them off both at once using the cable locking nut under the console?
C) Just drive it and stop hearing noises as if it is barely touching they will just wear away a bit anyways and be fine?

Still, having to "loosen" (At the pad side I'm pretty sure I'm technically tightening something to bring the pads into the center and not touching the drum") them is odd when they don't hold the thing back at flat idle in the first place.

Thoughts?

Brakes are one of the most important things on your vehicle. A loose parking brake could be an indication of a bigger issue. I would have taken it to a mechanic as soon as the parking brake was loose. I also live in a relatively flat area but still set my parking brake every time I park, in every vehicle I own. Every time the parking brake has been too loose to hold the vehicle, something else needed attention.

What else has needed attention when the parking brake was loose? It's a different brake than the rear disk brakes on these trucks. Essentially a drum brake inside the rotor. It could be completely disconnected and the regular brakes should still function 100%

Sorry for any confusion, that was more of a general statement based on a lifetime of owning multiple vehicles by many manufacturers. A mechanic once told me that I should always set the parking brake on one vehicle because that's how it automatically made adjustments to the brakes. The parking brake on my 2004 4Runner has never been loose in 11 years of ownership and if it was it would be in the shop to figure out why. How can you risk your life or your family members lives or other people on the road with brakes that have something undiagnosed wrong with them. Take it in for a brake check, if for no other reason than to know why it's doing something that's obviously not right. Brake checks are cheap or free depending on where you take it.

This may be somewhat unrelated...how often do you guys engage the e-brake? I've heard that it helps by putting less strain on the transmission, but may not be necessary on a flat surface. New to the forum and just got my first runner! Thx.

I use mine every time I park out of habit. Probably not necessary, but the muscle memory is good to have when I launch/recover my boat so i don't foret to use it.

Great point! I don't have a habit of engaging the e-brake, but maybe that will be good practice going forward. If you every once and a while have it engaged and forget, then say move the runner while it is in drive (not far maybe a few feet) is that detrimental to the vehicle?

When was the last time you took it apart and cleaned it up? Has anyone ever worked on it since you got it from the factory? It is very easy to mess up the install. lots of parts limited space... everything needs to be in the right place.

if anyone took up your rotor, if they didnt disengage the parking brake they could damage the parking brake.

also probably a good idea to take it apart clean it up every few years for optimal performance

also the cable might need adjustment

I bought it off a friend. It is an 06'. It was taken to a Toyota dealership and looked at by a technician. The dealer cleared it of any issues.

/\ there is a buzzer that goes off if you leave the e brake on and start to drive away.

The parking brake has two separate adjustments. You can adjust it at the parking brake pedal itself, as well as the actual parking brake shoes themselves. If the parking brake doesn't engage enough to hold the vehicle while pedal is fully depressed I would recommend adjusting both. It is not the end of the world, and no lives are at risk because your parking brake doesn't fully engage...adjust it yourself or have somebody capable do it.

Thanks all for the advice! I called a Toyota dealer as well and checked in with the service department and they said that this is not something to worry about and just to not make a habit (avoid) of putting the runner in motion while e-brake is engaged. I only moved a few feet, if that, in drive with e-brake on so didn't go far.

I had the same issue, I actually had my car on jacks for 3 weeks while I figured out the issue. brushing noise after adjusting or fixing parking brake.

The only way you can adjust the parking brake is if both rotors are on and both wheels are in the air.

depending on how tech savy you and if you have the time, try taking apart the brakes clean up the rust and spray brake clean with everything. there is a parking brake kit that comes with all replacement parts use them as you need. I'm warning you this is a awfully difficult task as there is limited space. you will need to use string. Please refer to this thread on some tricks. while this is not necessary, it may slightly beef up the parking brake. Its also possible that one side is engaging and the other isn't. I had to replace some springs before the system started to work correctly. If you can take the rotor off (remember to disengage the star adjuster all the way before removing the rotor) and verify both sides of the shoes push out, then at least hardware wise nothing needs adjusting at the wheels. you may need to replace the shoe hold down pins and the springs to get it working again. the C looking shoe down pin in the link below can easily get bent if someone improperly removes the rotor the system can easy build up rust or gunk that will cause the drum system to fail, over time it does need a little touch to bring it back to working order. It is a huge pain in the ass.


the way you adjust the parking brake is the following. make sure the parking brake is not engaged. you adjust the star adjuster up (both sides) as much you can until you cant spin the wheel anymore. then you dial back 8 clicks. While doing this I still had a bit of touching noise as i spin the wheel, in fact I had noise even with the star adjuster all the way down. it probably isn't centered and most people here said its normal. When i engaged the parking brake I couldn't turn the wheel. (make sure you turn both directions).

When I put everything back together I still heard brushing while driving the first half mile. To get rid of the noise, I engaged the parking brake a 3-5 times. Then I found a steep hill with no one around. put the car in neutral and have the car hold itself. Did that a few times, the car held held itself from slightly moving. eventually we heard a slight click and bam the noise went away. I'm not sure if this was the main cause, but we also brought the car to 10mph and applied the parking brake. slowly it brought the car to a stop. I would not advise this unless nothing else works, but it was one of the things we did. not sure exactly what caused the brushing noise to go away.

if it still doesn't hold the car, there is probably nothing you can do at the wheels there is the slack on the cable.

also read this thread, I think I asked every possible question =P

Parking Brake Repair Procedure Question

Please feel free to ask anything, I spent a lot of time on this parking brake.