I was wondering if anyone could help me out with some information. I’ve never owned a car that has brake shoes inside a rotor for the e brake. How hard is it to replace? I am decently mechanically inclined and I’ve changed shoes before yet I hate it haha. I can’t find any videos or real info. Anything helps. Will be doing a full change front and rear with akebono pads and centric gcx rotors and some Duralast brake shoes since it’s only used as ebrakes.

 

It is straight forward. Make sure the parking brake is not engaged and you just pull the rotor off. Might need some gentle tapping with a mallet.

 

It's a pain for sure - not hard but tedious. Particularly the spring/cup/pin alignment on the plate, while holding the tension spring attached to the shoe to set it in place. It's an artform.... A set of locking vice pliers helps but it's a "try and keeping trying" process until it lands. The second shoe is usually much harder than the first. There are a lot of small parts in the rebuild kits if you buy one, which could be handy if you lose anything or have some corrosion, and you should have some brake grease on hand for a few of the friction points where the shoes mount. It's also a good opportunity to lube the levers orchestrating the whole mechanism, especially if you see some dirt and/or corrosion there.

Most solid rear axle Toyotas have a similar mechanism and so you'll be able to find some videos on it.

 

This is a good point. On my GX I had to back the ebrake shoes all the way off the rotor, and it still required some BFH work to get one of them to come off.

 

Maybe I misunderstood, are you trying to replace the brake shoes for the parking brake? If yes why, is it worn? Or just the rotors and the pads?

 

Seems like it will be straight forward. I hate drum brakes and I was hoping this would be an easier process as it’s technically only a ebrake lol.
And yes i am replacing it due to my brake pedal reaching the floor basically and it seems like there’s barely any contact.

 

How many people actually use the emergency brake ? And even if they do ... there is no wear to the brake shoes or the inner drum surface anyway ... unless one drives away all the time with the emergency brake applied. The rotor should remove easily with back-and-forth movement ... or may require a very slight back-off of the brake shoe adjuster. If this is not the case ... the shoes were probably adjusted too close to the drum in the first place.

 

I use it every time, as I don't want the car weight on the locking pal, also I learned to drive with manual and I was told to always use the parking brake, what some call emergency brake.

 

Look through this thread as well.. springs can be tricky

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...l#post10483972

 

There is no wear on the ebrake shoes unless you regularly use it to slow down the vehicle. I seriously doubt replacing them will make any difference and you should first try to adjust them using the nuts shown on the video Acrad posted.

 

AGREE ... my same point above ... the emergency brake shoes provide static braking ... meaning that no wear occurs to either the brake shoe friction material or to the brake drum (inner rotor) ... UNLESS one has a habit of driving off with the E-Brake engaged. Given the GX does not have an emergency brake lever ... but has the ratcheting foot pedal ... using the e-brake while the vehicle is moving is not practical and definitely not recommended.

 

Well I’ll be doing the replacement for the complete brakes next week so I’ll see if the shoes are good I’ll just adjust it. Not sure if the previous owner often drove off with it or it’s just an adjustment issue. Thanks for the assistance to everyone

 

Many YouTube videos are available as the are the same brakes as 4Runner, Tacoma, Tundra, Highlander, etc