Should I tear into them tomorrow? Just did a front pad and rotor replacement. 131k miles. I've been reading online that the rear drums wear quicker than the front pads, which make no sense. Is this true?
I would just look. I wouldn't assume anything needs to be done. You'll know if you look, and that's easy. If you spot anything you'd like to deal with, you can slip the drums back on, get parts, and pick a convenient time to do more. When I had rear drums and I was in there looking, I would also use a brake spoon to just lift the shoes a tad off the backing plate and sneak a few dabs of grease onto the contact points where they rub. Wouldn't even bother disturbing any of the springs.
I like to pop the hold-down clips off the shoes. Not sure about 2nd gen Prius, but typically you need to push the clip down and simultaneously turn the flattened end of the captured pin through 90 degrees. There is a tool, but I've always managed with plier tips. Once that's done the shoes are nice and loose, easy pull away from the backing plate. Then I'll get a dab of anti-sieze on the tip of a knitting needle, sneak it in between shoe edge and raised contact point on backing plate. There's 3 points per shoe thus. You need to be careful, don't get the grease on the shoe face. Putting the clips back on is the reverse, always a bit trickier, but doable. I can post some Repair Manual info tomorrow, drum ID service limit, ditto for shoe thickness. They seem to last a long time tho. Addnedum: Second Gen Repair Manual brake maintenance info added. I see RM spec's "high temperature grease" for the shoe contact points. Maybe lasts better than anti-seize. I do recall using high temp axle grease in past. I got a tub of it about 35 years ago:
Got drums off. Ton of brake dust in the drums. Drums were not scored or uneven inside. Measured shoes, 3.2mm. Odd thing was..none of the part stores post the new shoe thickness, had to look in the service manual Mendel posted to find it. 80% shoe life left (at 4mm original thickness), shoes were not cracked or marred. Hosed the drums, shoes and hardware in brake cleaner and put everything back together as well as greased all six contact points.
Yeah, that's why I like to just lift the shoes slightly with the brake spoon and just sneak dabs of grease onto the touch points. Done before you know it.
Taking those two clips (no springs) takes about a minute apiece. But yeah, If you can pry them away, that's another way to skiin the cat.
They're springs. You lift the shoe 6 mm or so, they get shorter. You let go, they get longer again. I just re-read your post and saw you explicitly said "no springs". Are we talking about different things? I haven't done a gen 2; I am virtually certain my old gen 1 had the exact kind of hold-down I am still picturing here: a pin that pokes through from behind the backing, goes through a hole in the shoe, goes through a compression coil spring, and ends in a little round cap with a slotted hole, that you have to press down against the spring and then twist so the slotted hole is athwart the nibs on the end of the pin and it doesn't sproing back off.
Yeah my bad. I'm used to Honda clips. Similar in principal, but definitely different: Ten/fifteen years back they were still turning out some nice paper manuals. Thorough and concise, good illustrations, around $100. Maybe not any more.
