Drums on the rears? What year did the Lexus LS model convert from drums to disc brakes?

 

They are drum in disc. The drum part is the parking brake.

 

I'm referring to replacing the shoes. Is there a special way to remove the pin in the top spring holding the shoes in place?

 

Why are you replacing the parking brake shoes?

 

The plot thickens.

 

Normally you should be able to grab the spring washer with a pair of pliers and push/turn to release it from the pin. Unfortunately, the parking brake shoes are behind the wheel hub and you can only access the washer through a hole on the hub. You will need a special tool like this to release the spring washer from the pin. This tool is similar to the one mentioned in Step 5 of the attached procedure.

Like Tom, I too wonder why you need to replace the brake shoes. They are not intended for use to stop your vehicle in motion, instead, they are designed to "hold" your vehicle in place, and so should have very minimal wear, if any at all. Unless of course they are ruined by grease or oil and cannot hold your vehicle in place.

Also take a look at these procedures...

 

This was helpful over the weekend. I could not get the rear rotors off until I tracked down a set of M8 screws. Popped them off in minutes. Thanks.

 

About to tackle this job this week. The front pad and rotor swap went nice and smooth. The rears look easy but the few comments on the ebrake assembly coming apart slightly concerns me lol. I have m8 bolts and just remember to have the brake off. I just whacked the fronts with a rubber mallet.

 

I did front and rear pad/rotors over the weekend. The actual process of installing rotors and pads was fairly straight forward. The only annoyance was putting the pin back for the rear calipers. It was tough to get it all the way through. The M8 bolts came through big time.

The real pain was actually getting my tires off. I have no idea who the hell took the wheels off last (bought used), but they torqued the hell of of several of the lug nuts putting them back on. One was easily over 200 ft/lbs when I checked with my torque wrench. I didn't have a a socket that would fit the lug nut so I couldn't use my breaker bar. I had to place the stock tire iron at 45 degrees and used my jack to lift up the iron until I heard a loud *** clank. Extremely dangerous workaround and frustrating thing to deal with when trying to do a fairly straight forward repair.

 

Why do you need to remove the brake fluid cap? Did you bleed the brake line or replace the fluid? Also, what are M8 bolts and where do I get them?

 

The brake reservoir cap is removed because when you compress the brake cylinder in order to install the new brake pads this action pushes brake fluid back through the brake lines and raises the brake fluid level in the reservoir.
If you are doing all 4 wheels it would be better to remove some brake fluid from the reservoir first.

 

I'm planning on changing my own rotors and pads this week. Did you have to replace the caliper pin or any other bolts when you did yours? Did you reuse your brake sensors? And last question, did you use any grease on the brake pads?

 

Lexus recommends new bolts. Be sure to torque correctly - aluminum bolts into aluminum calipers. Brake pad wear sensor (if not worn split through the embedded wire) and caliper pin are re-useable. Brake pad grease is nice if you have it; not essential.

 

Heard! Thanks for responding man. Would you happen to know the part numbers or where I could source the correct bolts? This is my first new rotor job and I'm trying to do my best to have everything I need at my house before I begin this!

 

Front caliper bolts > 90105-14151
Rear bolts > 90105-14152

*Check Lexus of South Atlanta Parts website for parts & diagrams.