Drum brake fitment issues!

Take your hands around the shoes and push them in do you see them going in an extra couple millimeters when you do that with your hands and when you let them go they come right back out? This is what I generally find goes on with the drum brake business every time I do them and on the Prius this hasn't been yet but they're the same as the Corolla as far as lay out . Usually on my Corollas and whatnot I can get the drum on their kind of cockeyed so where I only have to use my thumb to push on the shoe that the drum is not riding on yet once I push that in I'm able to twist the drum with my hand a little bit pushing with my thumb on the shoe and the mess slides on. And then once I have it on I rotate it around a couple times and tap on it with my rubber mallet and all of that and then as I'm rotating I listen for the rub rub sounds of the drum touching some part of the shoe and if I don't have that then I make the adjustment little by little till I just get the sound of the drum starting to rub on the shoes and then I give it one or two more clicks but the wheel on rotate it by hand a few times do the other side. This may not be how some do it It works from all of my drum brake cars and it's about time for me to put rear shoes and probably new drums on the back of my '09 any minute

 

The wheel cylinder is not fully compressed.
The top ears of the brake shoes, should be very close to the wheel cylinder. (C & D)
Also, both brake shoes should be touching the adjustment bar. (A & B)

On the annotated picture, of your original picture,
1) Note that the space near A.
Both brake shoes should be touching the adjustment bar. (A & B)

2) Note the space near C.
The top ears of the brake shoes, should be very close to the wheel cylinder. (C & D)

I haven't worked on Prius rear drum brakes.
You ?should? be able to fully compress the wheel cylinder.
Bleeding Prius brakes can be a PITA. So, I don't recommend loosening the bleeder screw, to lessen the pressure. That's also a great way to let air in, and then get soft/non-working brakes.

A good video:

Code:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Xb6WvCuCE
How To Remove & Replace Rear Brake Shoes & Drums On Toyota | Prius Gen II Yaris Matrix Corolla Camry
EyeOnAiman
Jul 31, 2019

Pictures:

Annotated picture, of the original picture posted.






Note the correct gaps for the top brake ears.
And the lack of any gap between the brake shoes, and the adjustment bar.






Good Luck!

 

A common problem people run into on the front brakes is they fail to disconnect the 12v battery, which means the brakes are still active even when the car is not turned on so when they remove the calipers the position of the hydraulic pistons extend out and then they can't get the calipers with new pads to fit. This sounds like the same problem you have, though I'm not sure if that happens in same way with rear brakes?

 

Even with 12 volt power, of course the brake system is not normally applying fluid pressure just because it can, or else the brakes would be normally dragging.

The trouble people sometimes have (and yes, it can happen at the rears as well as the fronts) is if the system happens to do its automatic self test at a time when they have a brake taken apart. That's bad news if it happens; it doesn't just make the brake harder to fit back together. As long as nobody's fingers or other body parts are in the way at the time, it will just push the pistons right out, dump a mess of brake fluid, and require the caliper or wheel cylinder to be reassembled, and the system refilled and bled for air. That can set the project back, and if any body parts were in the way, the setback can be longer.

In a Gen 3, that self test takes place like clockwork 90 seconds after the car has been turned off. I don't know for sure the rules for when a Gen 2 does it.

 

No road salt, but just how close to the ocean are you on the "Oregon Coast"? I lived in San Francisco for several years in the eighties and the Corolla I was driving at the time developed a mild coating of rust on the suspension components, brakes, and so forth. Presumably from moisture condensing onto it from the fog and generally cold wet air. That car then moved to hot dry SoCal, and the rust never got any worse after that.