Rust Belt Parking Brake Repair Failure

[Last Man Standing]

I had hoped to tear apart the Bell Cranks and sand them down a bit
and lube em up and put the suckers back in and be in business, No Dice dam things were so rusted it took a torch to loosen some parts to take it apart. The pivot point inside was so bad I called Olath Toyota and ordered all new parts.

The odd thing about Toyota does not sell total parts kit for such a replacement?
Man them parts adds up quick, but in these parts if the parking brakes don't work you cannot pass inspection. Looks like two hunch plus S&H, Dam that hurts but not as bad if I had taken it to the shop to be done.

Next repair is the rear side bumper, bought it off Ebay $40 delivered and that was the cheep part? Paint came in at $60 with supplies which lead to a polishing tool needed to gloss the clear coat?, tried that by hand and way to much effort and I now realize why the Body & Fender folks get so much money.
At this point bumper was primed when I bought it, three base coats with wet sanding 1500 grit in between each coat, three coats of clear with sanding in between those and undercoating on the backside. No once the polisher gets here I can finish it up and put her on. Mufflers and metal bumpers just don't go together. The picture shows the bumper prior to final polish and wax!

LMS

 

[Bad Luck]

I got my bell crank kit from NAPA. About $60 for both sides.

 

[Last Man Standing]

I got my bell crank kit from NAPA. About $60 for both sides.

Tried them, they looked at me like I had two heads????
I asked the fellow and had he no clue what I was looking for so figured
it was an OEM type purchase....Thanks

LMS

 

[Crowcifier6]

NAPA and AutoZone couldn't find the kits for me, but Advanced Auto has a Dorman bell crank e brake kit, $40 if i remember correctly. Cheap crap steel, I packed the boots with grease and lubed every surface...worth it to me if it lasts a year or two.

 

[brillo_76]

These drum brake arms have been issues since the 1970's in the rust belt.

When they start getting rusty. Unbolt them out off the brake plate. Take off the keeper lock ring off and separate them. Then descale them and sand the pins smooth again. You can paint the parts if you wish but mostly just flakes off in a year.

Put back together and see if everything moves freely. If not clean more grind etc till it all moves freely again. Then get the grease out or fluid film and coat all that area in the boots really heavy. I also suggest that movement be checked at least once a year.

As these can rust and bind up quickly. In the winter months, try not to use it a lot. As they also physically freeze too. Then you out there with a hammer banging back to release position with 6 inches of snow on the ground. [ been there several times]


Dont forget to check the mounting pins and that pivot assembly on the rear end of the brake cable too as they can bind up as well.

One of the reasons I keep kicking around coverting the back brakes to disc.. but they probably freeze and rust up too. :[

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[BostonJon]

I just rebuilt my rear bell cranks with parts from RockAuto. It wasn’t expensive and everything went together well. I also replaced the entire ebrake cable with an OEM part - which was $90. System works great now though and gave me a chance to adjust the rear drum brakes at the same time.

 

[Last Man Standing]

Alas, the Parking brake saga continues..........:mad2:

I start the other side and what do I find but the drivers side cable
is hanging from the brake drum? Tries to remove the broken bolt
with a torch and a socket wrench but was just rounding over the shank.
To make matter worse I pull the drum and what do I find, a bunch of
gear oil inside the drum covering the pads? Can't believe It was still
breaking without me noticing and no smoke either? Now I have two
problems to deal with? Anybody have a suggestion for the brake cable
support other than replace the cable as a unit?

 

[brillo_76]

Dang, LMS not having the luck. Check the breather, we rust those baby's shut and builds pressure. Those are cheap new.

I have seen some folks, clean the bearings and repack them. I have about 30K on my oil soaked rear axle bearings and didnt do a thing to them. (Not recommended at all).

I fixed the breather and changed my rear seals and put it back together, my 3rd member has some wear and my housing has jb weld on the back plate holding it from seeping. Not to mention the locus heavy duty oil stabilizer in place of gear grease. [Makes my 3rd member quieter at 70mph]

Which bracket are you after?? The one that holds the emergencies brake in the drum or the one that on bolts in the pivot point and has the cable to the passenger side?

 

[Last Man Standing]

Dang, LMS not having the luck. Check the breather, we rust those baby's shut and builds pressure. Those are cheap new.

I have seen some folks, clean the bearings and repack them. I have about 30K on my oil soaked rear axle bearings and didnt do a thing to them. (Not recommended at all).

I fixed the breather and changed my rear seals and put it back together, my 3rd member has some wear and my housing has jb weld on the back plate holding it from seeping. Not to mention the locus heavy duty oil stabilizer in place of gear grease. [Makes my 3rd member quieter at 70mph]

Which bracket are you after?? The one that holds the emergencies brake in the drum or the one that on bolts in the pivot point and has the cable to the passenger side?

Morning Brillo,

Put one of those breather's on order this week as a precaution as I expect the rust belt got to that sucker! Thinking I will do the "Timmy" raise into the gas cap area and end that problem. I have to tear into the cable as the pivot point on the drivers side looks pretty bad at the cable as well? So thinking I will order a new cable system. I forgot to take a pic of the oil buildup on the brake pad, man I can't believe she stopped so well with all the grime on it?

Have you done that bearing replacement? How much time did you have into the project? I figure I minus well order a set w/boots so I have them on hand. With the weather moving in I may farm it out to the mechanic shop?
Gonna be a lot of $$$ I bet. I also want to do the timing belt, water pump and have to order that from air cabin man on Ebay...

As to the brakes, all parts are ordered from Olathe Toyota for the Bell Cranks as they were to far gone to be repairable imo. At least I'm gaining knowledge of how these system's work. Ordered a Toyota repair manual to better understand how this Sh*t works.....

LMS

 

[Mudeprived]

Just hit the cranks with Fluid Film before winter and every time you see the can of Fluid Film throughout winter and they stay rust free.

I am also a member of the bearing repacker club. Mine leaked at 170k so I picked off the side cover of the bearing, cleaned em, then repacked em full with synthetic grease using a small syringe. I am at 182k now. Having said that, I bet they will fail tomorrow.

 

[Bad Luck]

Morning Brillo,

Put one of those breather's on order this week as a precaution as I expect the rust belt got to that sucker! Thinking I will do the "Timmy" raise into the gas cap area and end that problem. I have to tear into the cable as the pivot point on the drivers side looks pretty bad at the cable as well? So thinking I will order a new cable system. I forgot to take a pic of the oil buildup on the brake pad, man I can't believe she stopped so well with all the grime on it?

Have you done that bearing replacement? How much time did you have into the project? I figure I minus well order a set w/boots so I have them on hand. With the weather moving in I may farm it out to the mechanic shop?
Gonna be a lot of $$$ I bet. I also want to do the timing belt, water pump and have to order that from air cabin man on Ebay...

As to the brakes, all parts are ordered from Olathe Toyota for the Bell Cranks as they were to far gone to be repairable imo. At least I'm gaining knowledge of how these system's work. Ordered a Toyota repair manual to better understand how this Sh*t works.....

LMS

Wheel bearings aren't that bad if you have access to a press. Timmy has several youtube videos on the whole process and there's a loaner tool program on the forum here. The best part of pressing the bearings/retainers/abs rings is you can reuse most of it. Some people can swap retainer locations and be good. I opted for 2 new retainers for the axle seal to ride on.

 

[Last Man Standing]

Just hit the cranks with Fluid Film before winter and every time you see the can of Fluid Film throughout winter and they stay rust free.

I am also a member of the bearing repacker club. Mine leaked at 170k so I picked off the side cover of the bearing, cleaned em, then repacked em full with synthetic grease using a small syringe. I am at 182k now. Having said that, I bet they will fail tomorrow.

Mud,

Thanks for the tips!
I did some research on here and decided to use silicone lubricant inside the boot as well as all around the boot where it meets metal. Trying to keep salt penetration to a minimum as when I took the old boot off you would have sworn you were emptying a salt shaker ! I could not find the recommended one made by dynatex so bought NAPA's Sil-Glyde product. I'm also at 170K so our mileage is on par. I did order the fluid film applicator so I can buy the product by the gallon as the cans add up to fast imo.

 

[Last Man Standing]

Wheel bearings aren't that bad if you have access to a press. Timmy has several youtube videos on the whole process and there's a loaner tool program on the forum here. The best part of pressing the bearings/retainers/abs rings is you can reuse most of it. Some people can swap retainer locations and be good. I opted for 2 new retainers for the axle seal to ride on.

Brillo,

Thanks for the heads up on the info!
I just finished Tim's video ( 2nd. part ) and find the job intriguing and went down to look at that 20 ton press at HF so I may take it on but wanted to do some traveling with the rig this fall, but a bit concerned about the bearing issue?

 

[Bad Luck]

Brillo,

Thanks for the heads up on the info!
I just finished Tim's video ( 2nd. part ) and find the job intriguing and went down to look at that 20 ton press at HF so I may take it on but wanted to do some traveling with the rig this fall, but a bit concerned about the bearing issue?

I chose to replace my bearings with OEM toyota instead of repacking like some people have done. Some people can get away with it, but not me. If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all. My other piece of advise is to buy 3 axle seals. I managed to mess one of mine up during install, but I had the 3rd one already so it wasn't a big deal. The extra $8 was worth it to make sure I got it back together that day.

 

[Last Man Standing]

So spent an hour looking over the situation with a ball peen hammer in hand!
Tried to use a large vise grip to loosen the broken stud and even with the torch on it, no go all it would do is round over in the jaws of the vise grips. The nut is welded to the bracket so the only option I had was to use a recip saw and cut that nut off the bracket. Wasn't bad using cutting oil and a sharp metal blade. If you can see it is a very specialized bolt that fits into two rubber washers that allow it to articulate when engaging the parking brake.

Below are two pic's of the actual armature that is attached to the bracket for reference.

Being inside the wheel well and needing glasses as I can't see a F*ucking thing up close, I decided more light would help, but a cord and the shop lite was getting in the way, so went to HF and picked of this magnetic light that really made it a pleasure to be able to clearly see what the heck I was trying to do, FYI folks! Had a 20% off coupon so ended up at $32 pricey for sure but when to need a specific spot to light up that magnetic holder is the nuts!
390 Lumen Magnetic Slim Bar Folding LED Work Light

Hope this may be of help to anyone with the same problem.

LMS

 

[brillo_76]

Making great progress LMS. Sometimes the rust is beyond making work properly again. I cant tell you how many welded on nuts a cut off over the years and welded new ones on.

I had a hose for a while on the breather but unless you are mudding or constantly under water. I dont see the point. I swapped it for a new breather a while ago..


If your that rotted up, keep a real close eye on your 3rd member back plate. Those are fairly thin steel and rot out leaking gear grease out. Best if possible to catch that before it starts leaking. Keep it painted really good and coated with fluid film etc as once it starts seeping. The only thing you can do is drain it super clean it and jb weld epoxy that plate. Then fill it back up with gear grease.

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[brillo_76]

I never had to change rear bearings yet so I cant tell you how long it takes. If you going. to go that route. You definitely need the China freight 20 ton press and that axle bearing puller kit.

If you do that, best to pull it all the way down and change that brake back plate as those get super rusty and rotted around here. :[



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[Last Man Standing]

Making great progress LMS. Sometimes the rust is beyond making work properly again. I cant tell you how many welded on nuts a cut off over the years and welded new ones on.

I had a hose for a while on the breather but unless you are mudding or constantly under water. I dont see the point. I swapped it for a new breather a while ago..


If your that rotted up, keep a real close eye on your 3rd member back plate. Those are fairly thin steel and rot out leaking gear grease out. Best if possible to catch that before it starts leaking. Keep it painted really good and coated with fluid film etc as once it starts seeping. The only thing you can do is drain it super clean it and jb weld epoxy that plate. Then fill it back up with gear grease.

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Brillo,

Interesting point you make about the back plate?
I look and notice some thin sheet metal rusted to shreds, but the basic back plate where the pads and other items bolt to is fine, so a bit confused as to where or if anything is needed. When its time to go after those bearings it will be just as well to replace what has rotted back of that plate I guess.

I started working on removing the side bumper, and man are those bolts a *****, got one off and using PB blaster and letting the others soak overnite! I had to use the torch and almost started the truck on fire, lol The torch did not do a dam thing for the cable attachment of the brake cable??

Working on these suckers after all this salt is a royal PITA......

 

[brillo_76]

3rd member is your differential housing back plate. Those rot through at leak the gear grease.


On the axles. The brake plate gets thin. The salt eats them alive. On all my rigs I don't have any super bad on the axles. However, if your going to do the rear axle bearings. It's best to inspect that plate and replace if necessary as its behind all that axle bearings, abs ring, spacers etc.



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[FD7683]

Alas, the Parking brake saga continues..........:mad2:

I start the other side and what do I find but the drivers side cable
is hanging from the brake drum? Tries to remove the broken bolt
with a torch and a socket wrench but was just rounding over the shank.
To make matter worse I pull the drum and what do I find, a bunch of
gear oil inside the drum covering the pads? Can't believe It was still
breaking without me noticing and no smoke either? Now I have two
problems to deal with? Anybody have a suggestion for the brake cable
support other than replace the cable as a unit?

I have this exact problem. That pivot was seized, and i tried to remove it to clean it and it resulted in a broken bolt. I wasn't able to adjust the drum brakes with the e-brake after that because it doesn't click. Were you able to get that sucker out? I ordered a new bolt from Toyota yesterday.

EDIT: Did you just put a nut on top of the plate after you cut the welded part off? If thats the case, then i don't have to stress cause that's an easy job!