Parking brake he!!

[mooch91]

Hey all,

Replaced all of the hardware on my passenger parking brake a few months back. I know how difficult a job it is.

Today I went to replace rear brake pads on my 2006. I had decided I was going to pull the rotors and adjust the parking brake while I was in there.

Loosened the star adjuster and rotor on the passenger side came off fine. Reassembled and adjusted it to slight drag and backed off. Went and tested the parking brake.

After testing, the rotor would not move. Thankfully I still had the opening at the 6:00 position, but I could not move the star adjuster in either direction. The brake was locked up. The rotor would wiggle slightly, but I couldn't even turn the wheel by hand.

I tried putting the wheel back on and moving the car to see if it would pop loose, but the brake continued to drag. Just noise, no skidding, as thankfully our parking brakes are not that effective.

So I saw two options - (1) keep trying to loosen the star adjuster which isn't moving, or (2) try to force the rotor off. I decided to try to force it off. I only had 1" M8x1.25 bolts, so I was able to push the rotor right to the edge of the hub. I'm hoping to get some 2" bolts tomorrow to force them all the way off.

Any suggestions? I realize I am likely to break something when they break loose (I can see the shoes are pushing forward with the rotor), and I have another hardware kit ready to go (though I'm sure my hands are not ready for the job). I'm hopeful it does actually come off and not get stuck further. I don't think it's possible to put it back on at this point, even if wanted to.

Thanks!

 

[MrSeth]

Hey all,

Replaced all of the hardware on my passenger parking brake a few months back. I know how difficult a job it is.

Today I went to replace rear brake pads on my 2006. I had decided I was going to pull the rotors and adjust the parking brake while I was in there.

Loosened the star adjuster and rotor on the passenger side came off fine. Reassembled and adjusted it to slight drag and backed off. Went and tested the parking brake.

After testing, the rotor would not move. Thankfully I still had the opening at the 6:00 position, but I could not move the star adjuster in either direction. The brake was locked up. The rotor would wiggle slightly, but I couldn't even turn the wheel by hand.

I tried putting the wheel back on and moving the car to see if it would pop loose, but the brake continued to drag. Just noise, no skidding, as thankfully our parking brakes are not that effective.

So I saw two options - (1) keep trying to loosen the star adjuster which isn't moving, or (2) try to force the rotor off. I decided to try to force it off. I only had 1" M8x1.25 bolts, so I was able to push the rotor right to the edge of the hub. I'm hoping to get some 2" bolts tomorrow to force them all the way off.

Any suggestions? I realize I am likely to break something when they break loose (I can see the shoes are pushing forward with the rotor), and I have another hardware kit ready to go (though I'm sure my hands are not ready for the job). I'm hopeful it does actually come off and not get stuck further. I don't think it's possible to put it back on at this point, even if wanted to.

Thanks!

On some classic cars I restored, when those adjusters would freeze up, I would usually hit them with PB blaster to free the little star tab up. If that didn't work, I would use MAP gas on a basic hand held torch to heat up the assembly to loosen the metal a bit.

I would try PB blaster first! If you can remove the whole adjuster once the rotor is off, Id put some anti-seize on the assemblies inner workings to prevent it in the future.

 

[mooch91]

On some classic cars I restored, when those adjusters would freeze up, I would usually hit them with PB blaster to free the little star tab up. If that didn't work, I would use MAP gas on a basic hand held torch to heat up the assembly to loosen the metal a bit.

I would try PB blaster first! If you can remove the whole adjuster once the rotor is off, Id put some anti-seize on the assemblies inner workings to prevent it in the future.

Thanks. I spun the adjuster in both directions freely before putting the rotor back on. It didn't bind up until I tested out the parking brake, and then it wouldn't move. I suspect something got physically hung up when I engaged the brake.

Hoping the rotor comes off tomorrow, it's close, just need the longer bolts to push it off.

 

[inscarguy]

Did you replace the shoe hardware with factory or aftermarket? If aftermarket than the holddown pins are 1-2 mm too long. This screws everything up. Get factory pins, springs and cups. the second pic shows that it looks like the holddown spring already fell off as that's alot of pin showing.

Also if you don't have it already, look up a spring tool just made for these setups. I forget who makes it. Im pretty sure its on Amazon, its black and grey. Also get a pocket screwdriver or one very similar in size. When you are pushing the spring and cup on, put the screwdriver behind the pin head and wedge it in good. It acts as a second pair of hands to hold the pin in place while pushing on the spring.

 

[toyo]

Take some rust penetrant and spray into the adjusting hole onto the adjuster threads. Let it soak for awhile. I have had to do this on several of these models. After you get the rotor off make sure to clean up any residual penetrant that could get onto the shoes.

 

[Buckaroo]

Perhaps the rotor is not seated exactly straight on the hub and is binding the brake shoes. Try tapping the face of the top hat all the way around to make sure it is fully seated against the hub. then try the starwheel adjuster again.

 

[mooch91]

Perhaps the rotor is not seated exactly straight on the hub and is binding the brake shoes. Try tapping the face of the top hat all the way around to make sure it is fully seated against the hub. then try the starwheel adjuster again.

I suspect this is what may have happened. I put the rotor back on, but I did not put a wheel back on or torque down any lugs, so applying the brake might have shifted everything in to a binding situation. Unfortunately, as you can see from my pictures, I think the only direction to go is off right now, as I think it's unlikely it's going back on...

 

[mooch91]

Did you replace the shoe hardware with factory or aftermarket? If aftermarket than the holddown pins are 1-2 mm too long. This screws everything up. Get factory pins, springs and cups. the second pic shows that it looks like the holddown spring already fell off as that's alot of pin showing.

This was aftermarket, but I don't recall the pieces looking that "off". I think the holddown spring is actually in position, and highly compressed in that second picture, still holding between the shoe lever and the cup. It just shows how far off the rotor is actually driven right now.

 

[Bluesky 07]

[MENTION=104391]mooch91[/MENTION] - this is also what happened to me (stuck star wheel). Here’s my post about it in another thread. Hope it helps.

 

[mooch91]

OK, all, I am screwed now... the rotor is fully stuck... I'm at the point of stripping the screws on the rotor... the shoes look free up top but fully seated still at the bottom. I know one of the pins has snapped at this point. The good news is I can wiggle the crap out of it, the bad news is I'm just really pulling on the springs and the pads aren't releasing...

Any thoughts?

 

[mooch91]

About the only piece of hardware remaining which is holding things together are the springs along the top which hold the shoes to the post on the hub. Everything else is broken and free. I am within mm of having the rotor over the wheel studs (hoping the rotor is softer than the studs with all the grinding that's going on between the two right now!).

This is really a brute force removal at this point...

Just need to get it off so I can get a new rotor, shoes, hardware. Unfortunately I can't move it at all the way it sits...

 

[mooch91]

OK, it's off. I kept inching it off, using the bolt holes and a pry bar between the rotor center and the hub, until I was able to get in through the holes to knock at the shoes with a screwdriver. Sacrificed a Craftsman USA driver for the job.

Now how to disable the parking brake so I can put this back together until I get a chance to get parts and the time? Do you just pull the cable through so it doesn't drag the rotor or the axle?

Thanks to everyone who pitched in with ideas...

 

[MikeinNH67]

Disable the parking brake? With the PB shoes and hardware out the only thing you may need to do is zip tie the end of the cable out of the way which brings up another question.

Do you use the parking brake often? I ask because the issue you had may be from a cable freezing up. They only last so long depending on the climate they live in. As for removing the end of the cable, you could do that by removing 2 - 10mm bolts but the metal at the end may be frozen to the backing plate. My cable end broke trying to remove it when I replaced an axle seal.

 

[mooch91]

Disable the parking brake? With the PB shoes and hardware out the only thing you may need to do is zip tie the end of the cable out of the way which brings up another question.

Do you use the parking brake often? I ask because the issue you had may be from a cable freezing up. They only last so long depending on the climate they live in. As for removing the end of the cable, you could do that by removing 2 - 10mm bolts but the metal at the end may be frozen to the backing plate. My cable end broke trying to remove it when I replaced an axle seal.

Thanks. I temporarily zip tied it inside the rotor just so I could move the truck back out of the garage. Keeping it inside is not great, as I couldn't keep it perfectly in position, so I think it's dragging the inside of the rotor. Not an issue for now, as I only moved it from my garage to driveway, and will only be pulling it back once I have the parts this week.

I did try to remove it from the housing, but when I snapped the first 10mm bolt head, I figured I'd better leave the other one alone...

I will test the cable before I reassemble. It seemed to be working fine before I pulled the rotor, so I still suspect I got something jammed.

In fact, I did find that my star adjuster was installed backwards, so high likelihood I was tightening when I thought I was loosening. For future reference, the threaded component of the star adjuster goes towards the REAR of the vehicle, not the front. In this way, the star wheel moves down to loosen, up to tighten.

New parking brake shoes, rear rotors, and parking brake hardware are on their way, along with the Toyota spring cup tool. Will probably only replace the shoes and hardware on the side I damaged, unless there is an issue on the other side already.

 

[mooch91]

Got the job fully completed last night - parking brake fully rebuilt, new rotors, new pads.

Some tips:

Timmy the Toolman has a recent video which walks you through the assembly steps. It's very good and very helpful.

The spring tool that he shows in the video is unavailable from Amazon right now, but something you can get at Napa. They may need to order it but will have it next day. Or they will ship to you as well. $20 after discounts but worth it.

The video is good in that it speaks to "front" and "rear". He is working on the driver's side, so you need to keep in mind that you are doing the mirror image on the opposite side.

The one thing I did differently than the video is I used zip ties to compress the springs that go over the pins and then cut them when they were in place. There is really no way to fit them in otherwise. I also used a big bungee around the shoes to hold everything together once assembled and before the top springs are in position.

Beware of aftermarket hardware. For example: The OEM star adjuster is designed to have the threaded portion of the adjuster towards the rear of the vehicle. This way, when you push down it loosens, when you rotate the wheel up it tightens. I had two kits with aftermarket hardware and the adjuster rotated in the opposite direction. So I just cleaned and greased the OEM one and re-used it.

I tightened the adjuster down and backed off 8 "clicks". It's honestly not working much better than before, so I may re-adjust them once I give them some time to seat in to position.