On your vehicle, you will find that the stock thickness on the shoes is very thin, about 1/8" when new. They should be replaced when down to about 1/16" but it is unlikely that yours are that thin yet.
I was thinking about disk pads. 1/16" as the thinnest for shoes is fine, as long as they’re not riveted.
Adding another twist too this are some vehicles have both Disc AND drum brakes in the rear. My 4runner did, Wife’s Lexus does and so does my Highlander. The drum is very small and it’s inside the rear rotor. It’s only for the parking brake. In this situation those shoes rarely get changed( if ever). They don’t wear unless you move vehicle with parking brake engaged.
The rotors will have a minimum thickness, typically stamped somewhere, and likewise with the maximum diameter for the drums.
Does that mean the car stops solely on the front disc brakes? Its unlikely. I was under the impression, the parking brake has extra spring in the drums that only pushes the rear shoe for parking. But for braking both shoes are used. I could very well be wrong, I was searching about the drum brakes and came across this somewhere.
Thank you.
No, rear disk brakes sometimes also have a small set of parking brake shoes inside the rear rotor.
So two separate brake mechanisms at each wheel.
Rear drum brakes typically have a parking brake mechanism to engage the rear brake shoes.
My 1948 Dodge and my 1950 one ton Chevrolet pickup truck had a drum brake on the driveshaft that served as the parking brake. I don’t remember having to service either unit.
Drums have a maximum allowed diameter. Needs to be checked as part of a drum brake job. That number is usually stamped somewhere on the drum. On my Corolla as I recall it is 200 mm when new and the drum must be replaced when it measures 201 mm or more.
The shoes are pretty easy to judge for serviceability just by looking at them. It’s obvious where the lining starts and ends. On my Corolla the spec is 4 mm when the lining is new, and when it gets below 1 mm the shoes must be replaced.
Yes, the e-brake was on the rear of the tailshaft, but they almost never needed servicing.
Many of the larger trucks in our fleet . . . class 4 through 7 with hydraulic brakes . . . have parking brakes mounted just behind the transmission
Works just fine holding a large vehicle in place, and they’re pretty reliable
The biggest problem is when the transmission output shaft seal leaks fluid onto the shoes, but that seems to be uncommon