1998-2007 Lexus LX470 Parking Brake Problems and Adjustment

By Core Brake Parts Tech Team — Circleville, OH warehouse

On a 1998-2007 Lexus LX470, the parking brake does not use the rear calipers at all. It uses a small set of brake shoes that expand against a drum machined into the inside of each rear rotor hat. When the parking brake stops holding, the cause is almost always worn or glazed shoes, shoes that have drifted out of adjustment, or a cable that has stretched or seized. The fix is to adjust the shoes first, then the cable, in that order.

How the LX470 Parking Brake Works

The LX470 uses four-wheel disc brakes for normal stopping, with the 4.7L 2UZ-FE V8 in every model year. For parking, Lexus fitted a drum-in-hat design: each rear rotor has a drum surface inside its center hat, and a pair of parking brake shoes sits on the backing plate inside that drum. The hand-operated parking brake lever in the cabin pulls a cable, the cable runs to an equalizer, and the equalizer splits the pull to both rear wheels, where a lever on the backing plate spreads the shoes against the drum.

Lexus lists three separate parking brake shoe assemblies for the 1998-2007 LX470, one for each position the shoes occupy across the two rear wheels:

The in-cabin control is a hand lever assembly (Lexus part 46210-60212-C0, which supersedes 46210-60210-C0 and 46210-60211-C0). Because the shoes only touch the drum when the lever is applied, they wear very slowly in normal use. That is also why they tend to fail from neglect, rust and glazing rather than from mileage.

Common LX470 Parking Brake Problems and Symptoms

• Lever pulls up too far before it holds. The shoes have too much clearance to the drum, or the cable has stretched. On a vehicle this heavy, a lever that travels a long way before resistance is a sign the shoes need adjustment.
• Normal lever travel, but the truck rolls on a hill. The shoes are contacting the drum but not gripping. Glazed or oil-contaminated linings, a rusted drum surface, or a worn equalizer are the usual causes.
• Burning smell or a hot rear wheel after driving. The shoes are adjusted too tight, or a cable is seized and not letting the shoes retract. Even light, constant drag on a drum-in-hat shoe builds heat quickly.
• Parking brake stays partly applied after release. A cable that has corroded inside its housing, often at the rear where it is exposed to road spray and salt, will not spring back fully.
• Grinding or scraping from the rear with the lever released. A broken return spring or loose hardware inside the hat can let a shoe rub the drum.

What Causes Them

Many LX470 owners rarely use the parking brake, since the automatic transmission sits in Park. The shoes and drum surface then rust, the adjuster star wheel seizes in place, and the cables corrode inside their sheaths. The trade publication Brake and Front End notes that cables naturally deteriorate and develop slack over time, which increases lever or pedal travel, and that home remedies such as oiling the cable can shorten its life because the lubricant attracts grime that gets pulled into the housing. It also points out that a worn equalizer linkage can give you normal lever travel while the brake still will not hold on a hill.

The other common cause is a rear rotor replacement where the shoes were not re-adjusted. A new rotor has a fresh drum surface. If the old shoes were set for a worn drum, or never set after installation, the lever will travel too far and hold poorly.

How to Adjust the LX470 Parking Brake

The correct order is shoes first, cable second. Adjusting the cable to take up slack that is really shoe clearance hides the problem and can leave the shoes dragging. Brake and Front End is direct on this point: never estimate a parking brake adjustment, and follow the manufacturer's procedure and specifications rather than feel.

1. Secure the vehicle. Chock the front wheels, release the parking brake, raise the rear on a lift or on jack stands rated for the weight, and remove the rear wheels.
2. Find the adjuster access hole. The rotor hat has an access hole with a rubber plug. Rotate the rotor until the hole lines up with the star wheel adjuster on the backing plate.
3. Expand the shoes. Using a brake adjusting spoon or a flat screwdriver, turn the star wheel until the shoes lock the rotor so it cannot be turned by hand.
4. Back off to the specified clearance. Back the star wheel off by the number of notches listed in the factory service manual for your model year, until the rotor turns freely with no drag. The general method used across the industry is the same: adjust until the shoes drag, then back off until the rotor turns free.
5. Repeat on the other side, then refit the plugs and wheels.
6. Check lever travel. Pull the lever with normal force and count the clicks. Compare against the travel range in the factory service manual. Only if travel is still out of range after the shoes are set should you adjust the cable, using the adjuster at the lever.
7. Verify release. With the lever fully down, spin each rear wheel by hand. Any drag means the cable or shoes need another look before the vehicle is driven.

If the rotors or shoes are new, the shoes will not reach full holding power until they have seated against the drum. Follow the bedding procedure in the factory service manual before relying on the parking brake on a steep grade.

When Adjustment Is Not Enough: Repair and What to Replace Together

If the shoe lining is thin, cracked, glazed, or soaked with grease or gear oil (a leaking axle seal will do this), adjustment will not bring the holding power back. Replace the shoes as a set on both sides, and replace the hold-down and return hardware at the same time; the springs lose tension and rust after years in the hat. Inspect the drum surface inside each rotor hat. Heavy rust scale or scoring means the rotor should be replaced, which is the natural time to do the service brakes too.

Because the rotor has to come off to reach the parking brake shoes, a parking brake repair and a rear brake job share nearly all of their labor. If your rear pads are near the wear limit, doing both at once saves a second teardown. You can browse brake rotors, brake shoes and brake hardware kits to plan the job. For the front axle, we carry EBC Greenstuff 6000 truck and SUV front pads for the 1998-2007 LX470 and, for owners who tow or drive hard, EBC Yellowstuff front pads for the LX470 4.7.

A seized cable should be replaced rather than freed with penetrating oil, for the reason Brake and Front End gives above. On the difficulty scale, adjusting the shoes is a basic driveway job with hand tools. Replacing the shoes is moderate: the springs are stiff, the parts are small, and it is easy to reassemble them wrong, so do one side at a time and use the other side as a reference.

Recalls and Safety Notes

A check of NHTSA's recall data for the 2005 LX470 shows campaigns for side curtain air bags, the steering shaft snap ring and daytime running light intensity, and none for the parking brake. Recalls vary by model year, so run your own VIN on nhtsa.gov before starting work. On any year, do not rely on the transmission Park position alone to hold a vehicle of this weight on a grade; a parking brake that does not hold is a safety repair, not an inconvenience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the LX470 parking brake use the rear calipers?

No. The rear calipers are for normal braking only. The parking brake uses separate shoes that expand against a drum built into the inside of each rear rotor hat.

Why does my LX470 parking brake lever pull up so high?

Usually the shoes have too much clearance to the drum, or the cable has stretched. Adjust the shoes at the star wheel first, then check lever travel, and only adjust the cable if travel is still out of the factory range.

Can I adjust the parking brake without removing the rear wheels?

The cable can be adjusted at the lever, but the shoe adjustment is made through the access hole in the rotor hat, so the rear wheels need to come off to do it properly.

Do I need new parking brake shoes when I replace the rear rotors?

Not always. If the linings are thick, even and free of oil and glazing, they can be reused and re-adjusted to the new drum surface. Contaminated, cracked or thin shoes should be replaced as a set with new hardware.

My parking brake smells hot after a drive. Is that dangerous?

It means the shoes are dragging, either from over-adjustment or a seized cable. Continued driving overheats the shoes and the rotor hat, so correct it before driving further.

Sources

1. Lexus Parts Now - LX470 parking brake shoes - the three OEM shoe assemblies, positions, supersessions and 1998-2007 4.7L fitment
2. Lexus Parts Now - 46540-60050 shoe assembly - RH or center No. 1 shoe detail and LX470 fitment
3. Lexus dealer parts catalog - parking brake lever assembly - hand-operated lever, part 46210-60212-C0 and its supersessions
4. Brake and Front End - Adjusting Parking Brakes - drum-in-hat design, star wheel adjustment method, cable wear and equalizer symptoms
5. NHTSA recall data - 2005 Lexus LX470 - recall campaigns listed for that model year