Hung-up - Wheel Hub Removal -- Brake Adjustment -- All FALL down

With the back wheels off the ground and the parking brake off can you turn the hub easily? Should spin freely.
If not free its because the parking brake or a pad is stuck on which will greatly hamper any attempt at hub removal.
I assume since you read Hobbits thread you know about the star wheel adj.
If hub spinning freely its time to give it a good beating. Go at it with a block of wood and a bfh around the back edge
of the hub. Whack..spin hub 10 degree's..whack again. That usually works for me. Good luck and try not to kill your self and become meese food.

 

just cleaned and adjusted my rear brakes, always full of dust, seems the self adjusters are not happy with dust.

The brake drum is difficult to remove for the same reason the rim gets stuck on the hub----corrosion.

Use the 12mm bolts, alternate tightening till the drum is free.

Easier than the big hammer. Never adjusted my parking brake, 165,000 miles later, still works. Good luck. Jerry

 

You are rightfully concerned about the car crashing down and you really need to use jackstands if you are going to be under the car, especially with tires off. They really don't cost very much compared to your losing a leg or worse. I am serious about this.

I don't know what is the last step that you are referring to. In one of your other posts you referred to having prior experience with rear brake drum adjustment.

Prius is really no different from any other rear brake drum-equipped vehicle, you basically adjust the brakes until you can't spin the wheel by hand, then back off 8 notches (per the repair manual). The wheel should freely spin.

If you are planning to buy bolts to fit into the threaded brake drum holes, I believe that you will need either a 6 or 8 mm bolt, 1 inch long or more. Hobbit's idea is to remove an existing bolt on the car, which is a creative alternative. Note that the bolts are sold by their shaft diameter, not by what size socket is needed to remove them.

When you remove the brake drum, dust from the brake shoes will fall out. You should have newspaper under the brake assembly to catch the dust. Then drop the drum with the inside surface face down to the newspaper from a height of around an inch, to encourage the dust collected in the drum to drop to the newspaper. Discard the newspaper without breathing any of the dust.

Place more newspaper under the brake assembly and inspect the brake wheel cylinder for brake fluid leakage. If any is present then the wheel cylinder needs to be replaced or rebuilt. Use brake parts cleaner on the brake shoes and brake drums, allowing the runoff to be absorbed by newspaper. Then reassemble, and adjust the brakes as mentioned above. Tighten the wheel nuts to 76 ft-lb. (What, you don't have a torque wrench either?)

 

Glad to see you are shopping for tools.

You need a 1/2" drive torque wrench for wheel nuts; and a 3/8" drive torque wrench for smaller jobs like the spark plugs. You will probably note that the torque range for the 1/2" model is much greater than the 3/8" model.

The spark plug tightening torque is 13 ft.-lb which is typically less than the minimum torque setting for a 1/2" click type torque wrench.

It is not necessary to take off the drum when adjusting the brake shoes.

However, it is good practice to take off the drum so that you can get rid of the dust buildup, look for a brake fluid leak from the wheel cylinder, inspect the brake shoes and brake drum for glazing or other unusual wear, check the brake shoe lining thickness (4 mm when new; 1 mm minimum spec), and clean the parts with brake parts cleaner.

Also, it may be easier to turn the star wheel adjuster after you've had a chance to look inside the brake drum to see how the adjuster rotates and pushes the brake shoe ends apart.