Rear brakes/ebrake adjustment issues

J

Jave

New member
I recently noticed that my 99 4runner was nosediving a lot when braking and when parking, it would roll an inch or so even though the ebrake was engaged.

Did a couple stop tests with the ebrake and sure enough it does almost nothing to slow me down whereas 5000km ago it would lock the rear wheels easy when doing the same test.

This happened before (about 5000k ago) and at that time I had a mechanic adjust the rears and all was good.

So this time I figured I'd just adjust them myself since I've read how the self adjuster sucks on these cars.

Moved the star wheel a couple notches on each side which didn't really do much. Did a couple more notches and that made a little better but still horrible stopping from pulling the ebrake.

So, I did a couple more notches and now noticed I have significant drag in the rear when not braking so I guess I did it too much. At least the nose diving is gone when braking.

However, the ebrake still sucks! How is that possible? I can lock the rears with it when doing maybe 10km/h but any faster than that it barely feels like its doing anything and obviously if I back off the rears a little now it will be even worse.

So obviously this isn't as simple as I thought. What's going on here?
 
Register to hide this ad
dieselndixie said:
What did you end up doing for this? I am in the same boat. Searching around for some how to on this.
Click to expand...

I did get this fixed by a mechanic but I can't quite remember what he said I had done wrong. I think it may have been that I didn't have everything in neutral (including 4WD shifter) so it felt like there was a lot more drag on the wheels than what there was so I didn't adjust the drums far enough.

I could be completely off though so that may not be your issue at all.
 
Check your bellcranks. Those are the small pivot levers on the outside of the back of the drums where the e-brake cable attaches. You don't show where you are but in road salt country they love to seize up either engaged or disengaged. They have no effect on pedal braking but they sure can mess up the e-brake.

You should also look inside your drum to be sure you don't have a leaking axle seal and if the mechanism needs cleaning and greasing. If the seal is leaking, oil on the shoes will ruin them and kill the brakes. This leak happens when the diff breather gets clogged up off-road and oil is forced out the seals.
 
Last edited:
lets assume that the e-brake cable is adjusted properly.

Go to an empty parking lot or side street. While backing up repeatedly pull on the parking brake, HARD. this will adjust the shoes/adjuster. Keep doing it until you get the specified (owners manual) 7-9 clicks on the e-brake when sitting still for the brakes to be engaged. This may take some time if they are way out of adjustment. You can also, while sitting still, pull up on the e-brake lever till it tightens. Each time you pull it, the adjuster turns only a little so it takes some pulls. (honestly I don't know if it makes any difference if you are moving or not with our 4runners, others do have to be moving)

They are self adjusting and if you consistently use the e-brake when parking, it should stay adjusted.

(Mine will get uber tight when wheeling sometimes (my 4runner is a manual and I use the brake lever as a third foot to hold me while on obstacles)
 
Gerdo said:
lets assume that the e-brake cable is adjusted properly.

Go to an empty parking lot or side street. While backing up repeatedly pull on the parking brake, HARD. this will adjust the shoes/adjuster. Keep doing it until you get the specified (owners manual) 7-9 clicks on the e-brake when sitting still for the brakes to be engaged. This may take some time if they are way out of adjustment. You can also, while sitting still, pull up on the e-brake lever till it tightens. Each time you pull it, the adjuster turns only a little so it takes some pulls. (honestly I don't know if it makes any difference if you are moving or not with our 4runners, others do have to be moving)

They are self adjusting and if you consistently use the e-brake when parking, it should stay adjusted.

(Mine will get uber tight when wheeling sometimes (my 4runner is a manual and I use the brake lever as a third foot to hold me while on obstacles)
Click to expand...

It took a 12 ton press for me to press out the pivot pins on my bellcranks. I practically destroyed a socket pounding on the thing with a hammer before buying a press and doing it that way. Even with the press they didn't come out easily.
 
Gerdo said:
(Mine will get uber tight when wheeling sometimes (my 4runner is a manual and I use the brake lever as a third foot to hold me while on obstacles)
Click to expand...

I tagged my driver's side bellcrank on a rock and bent it a few weeks ago. It made it so every time I flexed out the rear, the ebrake cable would pull on the bellcrank and tighten the shoes. So much so that my rear d/s wheel would lock up after a trail and I smelled and noticed smoke coming out of the drum on the way home. I bent the bellcrank back down as best I could and I had to turn the star wheel inside the drum backwards with a screwdriver while pushing the lock lever in with an allen wrench so the shoes would loosen up. It fixed it temporarily, but it happened again on the next trail run.

My fix was to remove the bracket that holds the ebrake cable to the diff (I had to grind/cut it off since it loops around the cable. Now it has room to move when the suspension flexes and it doesn't pull on the bellcrank anymore.

Probably nothing to do with the OP's problem, but just another reason why drum brakes suck.
 
dieselndixie said:
im in austin, tx - no worry about snow or salt.

when checking bellcranks...what I am looking for? what is bad?
Click to expand...

Get under there and pull back the little rubber boot on the back of the drum. Check that the bellcrank lever that goes inside the drum moves when you pull on the e-brake cable that it is attached to. Give it a shot of white grease or something while you are there.

If it is frozen tight, you will have to take the drum apart to work on it; the bracket bolts are inside.
 
Same problem Need help

I recently cleaned my rear drum brakes on my 2000 T4R, i moved the star adjuster but don't know what I did everytime i come to a complete stop i hear the brakes and they lock completely i have to press the gas quite a bit in order to move forward, also when I put it on reverse on a slope hill the truck doesn't roll back it gets stuck please help need to fix going on a 632 mile trip soon
 
You can stick a small screwdriver I the slot and push the arm back and spin the adjuster backwards and take some tension off the shoes. You should only adjust then until you hear light contact when spinning the rear wheel.

Also the bellcranks for the ebrake have a setting to. And if not set correctly your auto adjusters won't operate properly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 215 (members: 5, guests: 210)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,309
Messages
3,554,071
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top