Has anyone had emergency brake issues after adjusting??

Hey tundra folks! I’m curious if anyone has had a problem with their rear brakes after adjusting their emergency brake??

I went to the local dealership and asked about it since it’s under warranty. They refused to adjust the brake even though my brake will not hold on a hill. They said every tundra they adjusted had rear brake failure soon after adjusting. I happily left, since I don’t want them messing mine up, since they admitted their lack of competence.

However, Im curious to see if anyone has heard of this. I dont believe it personally.

 

Dealer adjusted mine no issues.


There are YouTube videos on diy.

 

My Mechanic adjusted my Park Brake a couple years ago. It wasn't doing much to hold the truck before that.

 

Just did mine myself, using the appropriate YouTube videos that demonstrate the correct procedure from under the rear rotor. Oh, it's night and day difference. Your local stealership has just told you who they are; listen when they tell you they don't know what they're talking about. Personally I wouldn't take my vehicle to them again unless hard pressed by recall.

 

Which means: they have no idea what they're doing and fkd up every E brake they touched. So, now they don't touch 'em any more.
Smart move to leave. I wouldn't take the truck there in the future if they can't do simple shit like adjust E brakes.
I haven't done brakes in a long time. Well, since my 2015. I don't remember the details but I don't remember it being difficult to adjust the E brake. Between this forum and YouTube, should be an easy DIY.
Also lube and maintain any cables, springs and moving parts in the system.

 

The parking brake is just a mechanical drum brake. If it's way out of adjustment, best to go ahead and pull the rotors, make sure everything looks ok, then adjust it pretty close. If you have older rotors, there may be a lip on the inside drum part of the rotor which can make this difficult. You can continue to adjust it with the rotors on through that small hole, its just annoying.
Like drum brakes, these should be self adjusting. Issue is they are usually self adjusting when reversing.
So what i do is i have a steel, fairly long driveway. I start at the top, slowly backing down the drive way. Press on the parking brake pedal. This engages the parking brake. Press again and the ratchet disengages but you can still press the brake and it will release when you lift your foot, just don't lift it all the way, got it? I slowly back down the hill using the parking brake to stop/slow the truck. this beds in the shoes and should force the system to self adjust a little. The self adjusting happens in very small increments.

So in short, if you adjust and it still doesn't hold, try to bed in the shoes as well.

 

I was happy they had the balls to tell me they can’t do the brakes BEFORE touching my truck. I pulled up some you tube videos and laughed a little. It’s like my old vw bug with the star adjusters, hell I even have the vw tool made specially for the star lugs.

I never knew the parking brake was built like it is. Always thought it was a manual engagement of the calipers in the back. I’ll give it a look soon. Thanks everyone for the heads up.

 

On my 2020 I’ve never used the parking brake.

also i dont really drive it in the winter. Its cherry

 

I bought and paid for the whole truck, so I use it all, including the parking brake. Just the utilitarian in me, I suppose.

 

The dealership will only stay within spec. I live on a hill and must utilize the parking brake all the time. They have adjusted my brake several times with the same results, not properly hold the vehicle in place. My vehicle roll at least one to two inches. There is a video within the tundra forum that shows all the steps to correct your parking brake problem.

 

If the star adjuster is set too far, the shoes can grab and cause some nasty things to happen at highway speeds. As others have already said, there are YouTube videos that go over the process and it's not bad at all. Just make sure to err on the side of too loose vs too tight when doing the fitment of the rotor over the shoes. I believe this is the video I watched to get the steps down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p19-geSIkq4

These aren't a standard drum and do not have the self-adjusting hardware. Gotta do it the hard way...

 

Had a similar situation, but in my case the dealer just said it was in spec even though it wouldn’t hold the truck on a hill. I fixed it myself and haven’t thought about it since. It holds much better now.

 

I definitely agree that a different dealership or DIY adjustment is the way to go. For a dealer to refuse to make one of the most basic pieces of safety equipment function as Toyota intended is crazy.

 

I’m thankful it’s not the caliper type those are such a pia to change pads
Special tools required