Rear Brake Shoe Replacement

There is an adjustment for the length of the parking brake cable, but I don't know where it is and hope that info gets posted here soon.

It may also be that the brake drums are just a *little* stuck and need some encouragement to be removed. In that case, look at the drum for two extra threaded holes. If you screw a correct metric bolt into these it will start tp push the drum off of the shoes etc. Work back and forth between them to keep it coming off straight, or use two bolts. You will find that the spare tire hold-down bolt is the right diameter and pitch.

However a small caution: if the brake shoes are really siezed onto the drum, this trick will probably just strip out the threaded holes. In that case you must figure out how to loosen the parking brake cable.

 

Is the parking brake disengaged?

 

My last Volvo had a problem with sticking parking brakes, especially after a car wash or rain. I would roll the car backward an inch or two and they would retract with a clunk. Not sure if this would work for the Prius or not.

Oh, your question is for the cable. Hmm. Not sure. Lol.

 

If the Prius drum brakes are anything like the Camry drum brakes, I would not touch the cable, unless it is really out of spec. Instead, there is an adjuster screw that keeps the two shoes apart. You should be able to rotate this with a screwdriver so that it gets shorter.

I have a diagram of the Camry drum brakes in my write-up on swapping them for disks. May be of some help to you (scroll down to the drum diagram though the disk diagram is similar):

http://www.geocities.com/kocho_chestimenski/instructions1.pdf

I also have a photo of what the adjuster looks like from outside thru the adjustment hole in the drum, but I guess you are already inside...

Basically, you would need to make the adjuster shorter for new shoes as they are thicker...

 

Parking brake adjustment 2001 thru 2003 models:
1- Remove the left front door threshold plate, the cowl side trim (kick) panel and the 2 lower trim panels that interfere with access to the parking brake cable adjustment mechanism.
2- Loosen the lock nut on the cable end and turn the adjusting nut until the pedal travel is satisfactory. Tighten the locknut.
3- Replace the panels that were removed.

On the 2004 and newer the adjustment is under the console.
Hope this helps.

 

Let us know how it goes and if the brake cable adjustment helped. I will need to replace the shoes eventually and this info will be of help. Thanks!