Tightening parking brake

[the_economist]

I managed to manually adjust the parking brake on my 2016 T4R about 1.5 years ago using the star wheel adjustment and a screwdriver on the back wheels.

The adjustment did make a huge difference, and although it has loosened up again somewhat, it is much better now than it was from the factory.

In general, you should not need to make an adjustment to the cable from the middle console on the inside. You should be doing the adjustment from the back wheels only, unless there is something seriously wrong with your truck.

You basically just need to get the back tires off the ground, take off the tire, and find the small hole where you can access the star wheel with a screwdriver. Then you’ll adjust the star wheel tighter until you can’t turn the wheel by hand any longer. And then you’ll back off a few turns.

 

[SoCalTRD]

Subscribing to this. Good I go as mine doesn’t do anything unless it’s basically touching the floor.

 

[Agent_Outside]

5th gen Toyota 4Runner rear parking brake adjustment - YouTube

 

[1000MPH]

Not even sure what you're asking for here. You want to do skids?

Sometimes dragging the rears in 2wd is helpful. But mostly because a handbrake is easier to use while your feet are busy.

 

[ElectroBoy]

Sometimes dragging the rears in 2wd is helpful. But mostly because a handbrake is easier to use while your feet are busy.

When I drove a front wheel drive in snow, the handbrake could be employed for some great skids, turns, slaloms, and doughnuts. Great fun. Cannot get quite the same effect with RWD or 4WD. And certainly not with a foot brake.

 

[00Sebby]

On my '10 TE I used the old-school brake adjustment technique we used for all cars with rear drums and it seemed to help. I had a sloped driveway, so I would back down the hill quickly and step on the parking brake hard until the vehicle stopped. Repeated a few times and each time it seemed to improve and take up the slack. Haven't tried it on the '20 yet as I no longer have a steep driveway.

In older vehicles, this was a common rear drum brake/emergency brake adjustment technique.

 

[ctyslkr]

Subscribed

 

[rightyouareken]

I finally got around to taking the truck to Toyota. They said they adjusted the parking brake shoes in a bit and it feels much better now. Hopefully it stays adjusted this way. It actually holds on my steep driveway now.

 

[Ryance39]

Might try giving mine an adjustment later today or tomorrow. Definitely still soft. Interestingly, I drove my fathers 17 ORP, parking brake holds super strong. He says it always has.

 

[Cndnmax]

Might try giving mine an adjustment later today or tomorrow. Definitely still soft. Interestingly, I drove my fathers 17 ORP, parking brake holds super strong. He says it always has.

I have a feeling the cables have too much slack from factory. instead of adjusting the cables the dealers just bring the pads in closer which works until the pads wear down from being too close.
The only way to get mine to mostly hold is having the pedal to the floor and that’s after the dealer adjusted it. One of these days I’ll pull the center consol you do a proper adjustment.

 

[q451990]

Thank you trapshot68 for posting the FSM link!

My '22 has always had an e-brake that doesn't really engage unless the pedal was pushed all the way to the floor. The '17 that it replaced worked more as expected. We bought both new, so neither had ever been adjusted outside of the factory. Since the pads would eventually engage, I went with adjusting the cable at the e-brake pedal. Now it engages nicely after about 5 clicks.