If you need to replace your rear brakes seek the help of a professional or get a repair manual to give you step by step directions. I've been a Toyota technician for a very long time so I felt comfortable taking this on.
When I purchased my Scion XB the first thing I did was give it a good going over. I inspected it as best I could. I found the that rear brakes needed to be replaced. The shoes were getting thin on 1 shoes on each side. I noticed the Drum and sho on the passenger side was grooved.
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| Grooved drum |
So I searched Amazon.com to find parts. I came across this
Mac Auto Parts 38459 For Xb (2) Rear Brake Drum Drums & Shoes
set. It seemed like a good price for my budget. I didn't need to get factory parts since it has so many miles and wear.
set. It seemed like a good price for my budget. I didn't need to get factory parts since it has so many miles and wear. 
Honestly I was concerned that there were no reviews for this product. But I decided to give them a try and see how they work. I could always get the factory ones if these were noisy or had problems.
The parts arrived in a box well sealed. I opened the box and found a set of shoes and 2 drums.
I laid the drums side my side with the factory ones to compare them before getting to involved with tear down. The diameters seemed to be the same and the profiles seemed to match. The inside wall thickness seemed good too. Being satisfied so far I decided to remove one side of shoes and compare them with he ones from the supplier.
I spend the box and liked that they are wrapped in plastic instead of loose in the box. I inspected them and found a pivot pin pre installed into two of the shoes. This pin was for the Brake self adjustment star in the parking brake mechanism. Laying them next to some original shoes showed to be approximately the same surface area contact. They seemed to have the same dimensions as well.
Be sure to locate the contact points the shoe makes with the backing plate. I cleaned these points a little and placed anti seize compound to help allow the shoes to slide easier.
When taking a part the shoes be sure to note the self adjusting screw ends. This is my passenger side unit. Note the grooves in the ends for the manual adjusting arm (left side of picture) and the star adjusting arm grove (right side of picture). They need to be installed correctly so all parts will move freely and not bind.
Before installing the drums, I took some sand paper and put swirl marks on the surface to give a non directional finish, and then sprayed brake cleaner to remove the debris and oil coating from the manufacturer.
When removing drums from hub, I take the time to remove rust from the outer edge of the round center hub, and from all the flat surfaces. This allows the new drum to 1 - sit flush agains the flat surfaces so there is no wobbling when he drum is rotating, and 2- allows the drum to center itself properly on the center hub. Just another little step to take to help with the best brake job you can possible do.
Once I replaced the shoes and adjusted them to drag on the drum when spinning the tire, I bled the complete brake lines to get out a lot of the old brake fluid, and air that might be in the system. After 200k miles and 10 years, the brake fluid looked old a dirty.
Brake fluid attracts and absorbs moisture. When heated water will expand, but brake fluid will not. So I wanted to get out that possibly contaminated stuff as best I could. Now the pedal feels solid.
My opinion, these shoes have been great performers so far. Its been about a week and no squeaking or other brake noises have been noticed. Occasionally I will hear a squeek when backing out of the drive way in the morning, but I can live with that. Braking has been solid. Brake pedal feels solid. No brake fade has been noticed so far. I have not activated the ABS system yet so I can't comment on that, but normal braking is great.
Tools used in this post - slip joint plier, 2 screw drivers, 19mm impact socket, electrical impact gun, Anti seize compound.
Parts used in this post - Brake shoes, Brake drums, Dot 3 brake fluid (Local store)
Let me know if you have any questions or would like more detail. Thanks for reading.
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