Brake job gone wrong....help please

P

pjku79

New member
Ok, I feel pretty stupid right now. I was doing rotors and pads today. Fronts went smoothly. Got to the back and couldn't get the rotors off. I used the bolt trick to them part of the way of, but couldn't get them loose. Long story short, I didn't notice my wife had the parking brake on. I took it off but I think in trying to get them off with it in, now it's some how wedged in there. I'm not sure what to do. I put everything back together so I could take it around the block to see if I could brake something lose but now my battery is dead. It's been one of those days.

Btw...in trying to brake them loose the bolt thread stripped.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'm at the point where in about to pay someone to finish it.
:ak472:
 
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pjku79 said:
Ok, I feel pretty stupid right now. I was doing rotors and pads today. Fronts went smoothly. Got to the back and couldn't get the rotors off. I used the bolt trick to them part of the way of, but couldn't get them loose. Long story short, I didn't notice my wife had the parking brake on. I took it off but I think in trying to get them off with it in, now it's some how wedged in there. I'm not sure what to do. I put everything back together so I could take it around the block to see if I could brake something lose but now my battery is dead. It's been one of those days.

Btw...in trying to brake them loose the bolt thread stripped.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'm at the point where in about to pay someone to finish it.
:ak472:
Click to expand...

There's a star adjusting wheel for the parking brake you may need (or so it seems) to back it off to get the parking brake shoes away from the drum to let the rotor come off.

This topic may help you out of your jam(pun intended), also since you stripped at least one of the bolts maybe a hammer to tap on the rotor to help free it up may help.

Good luck.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/166216-4th-gen-4runner-rear-brake-rotor-pad-diy.html
 
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Oh man, I did something like that recently. I tried to take my rear rotors off with the idea of having then resurfaced for new pads. I backed the parking pads off but didn't get them all the way back (and didn't realize it). I used the bolt to get the rotor off and it got stuck. What did I do? did I push it back on and double check? Noooooo, I got my impact wrench to better persuade the offending rotor. I wound up tearing the parking brake all to pieces. Frickin' springs and do-dads fell out of the rotor when it finally came off. I only damaged one of the little spring keepers that hold on the pad springs. I got that thing fixed up enough to go back on and ordered a brand new one from the dealer for good measure. They are such a pain to put back on.

Did you get the rotor back on the hub? What bolt stripped, the one you use to push the rotor off? If you did get it back together ( thats what it sounds like), try to spin the wheel by hand. disengage the parking brake and put it in neutral. You want to make sure the parking pads aren't dragging. If it sins freely, back off that star adjuster wheel. Like HokieRunner says in his thread, get a flashlight and make sure you're making good contact on that adjuster with a slotted screw driver. It can slip and you'll think it turned, but it didn't.

Remember, even if the parking brake is off, you still have to back off / retract those pads. I wouldn't take it out for a drive to "break something loose." If that "remover" bolt head is stripped (and still in that hole in the rotor) I wouldn't think the wheel will even go back on. You'll need some vise grips or one of those gator grip things to grab that stripped bolt head and get it out.

Maybe some pics of where you're at with it....
 
Aww man... I know the feeling, because I did something in that ballpark as well haha.

I broke a rear wheel stud once rotating my tires...

In the process of fixing it I didn't actually understand how the adjusting "star" wheel for the parking brake worked.

I was really working that rotor, screw thing and all, but it's exactly what [MENTION=149207]AuSeeker[/MENTION] said... I was basically fighting with the shoes.

Ultimately I figured it out... but not before taking a dead blow and driving the rotor back home because it was really caught up (sorry wheel bearings).

Either way, learned how that works now...

Perhaps you need to take something proper and smash it back into place... but my advise is worth exactly what you paid for it.
 
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On our rear axles you have to use the star wheel to pull the parking brake shoes in before removing the rotor. Otherwise the parking brake shoes grab onto the rotor and get pulled out if you get the rotor off. Trying to get those damn wonky pins back in place is such a PTIA.
 
BlackWorksInc said:
Trying to get those damn wonky pins back in place is such a PTIA.
Click to expand...

Oooo yeah... lol... I totally forgot about that in my story.

I basically knew I wasn't doing something right when I started hearing some spring type sounds and other parts when I was yanking on that rotor... It really was a PITA to get that all buttoned back up.
 
i did the same when i did my brakes a few weeks ago. just ended up half assing the parking brake back together on that side and finished my brake job. still need to order a parking brake hardware kit to fix my mess up fully
 
The process of removing the rear rotor/drum combo other than the cailper is really just like doing brakes on old school drum brakes, you can't get the drum off without damaging the mounting hardware if at all without backing off the brake shoes from the drum, in old drum brakes it's more important to do this because as the drums get worn along with the shoes and that creates a "lip" on the open side of the drum making it all but impossible to get the drum off otherwise without destroying the shoe mounting hardware, this shouldn't be the case in this instance unless you have driven repeatly with the parking engaged fully or to some degree but it will relieve the possible pressure of the shoes contacting/holding the drum.
 
Am I the only one who replaced all rear brake hardware without touching the parking brake assembly?
 
madeinhb said:
Am I the only one who never uses the parking brake ;)
Click to expand...

No, you're not I don't use mine.....except when I had my left front brake line break on Thanksgiving day and no place to get a new line, all parts stores were closed, I had to drive 90 miles home only using the parking brake and manually downshifting, actually went rather smoothly, not too much traffic and traffic lights, and other than a bit of brake lining smell when I got home!!

So when I do my rear brakes I will be replacing the parking brake shoes if needed after checking them to see how much lining is left.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. I ended up beating them off. Now I just need to figure out how to get the dumb thing back on. I tried for a few hours today but couldn't get them back together. I'm starting to think I'm just going to pay someone to put it back together.
 
pjku79 said:
Thanks for all the feedback. I ended up beating them off. Now I just need to figure out how to get the dumb thing back on. I tried for a few hours today but couldn't get them back together. I'm starting to think I'm just going to pay someone to put it back together.
Click to expand...

How about some pictures OP...

Where are you getting caught up? The rotor install or the parking brake stuff?

Id keep at it, if you went this far, you can pretty much take it home.
 
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