Hi Scotty, I have a 2000 Toyota 4runner Limited 4x4, 233K miles, automatic. About 15K miles ago I replaced the rear drum brakes with OEM parts and had the drums resurfaced at my local PEP Boy's. After the install of new parts including wheel cylinders all has gone fine until about 5-7K miles ago when the above concern started to present. It's most notable after subjecting the truck to water... rain, car wash, driving through wet areas... once I park it for a little bit of time, and then try to drive it forward the truck's passenger rear wheel locks up and drags until it releases which if on a surface street it will release in about 3-5' of travel with a loud clunking type of noise, not sure how to identify... I did pull the wheel off to see if I could figure this out on my own. What I did see were what looked like a lot of small filings over the surfaces of the drum and surrounding housing and slightly damp but could not see an obvious leak. I cleaned the area off with brakekleen examined it again and still didn't see any obvious problems but obviously there is... Any chance you can lead me down a diagnostic path to figure this out?
FYI, I did replace the real wheel seals and bearings about 8-10Kmiles before the drum brake job due to a seal leak on that very same side.
Appreciate any direction you can offer..
Thank you Scotty,
desertkat
At that age and mileage it's pretty likely that the backing plate raised pads that the shoes ride on are worn, especially if they have not been lubed during brake service over the decades. This can cause brake shoe misalignment resulting in binding and uneven braking.
