1990 Toyota Corolla rear drums bad?

the shoes on drum brakes should auto adjust by backing up and applying pressure to the brake pedal (you may hear a clicking noise from the springs on the adjustment stars as they turn). If this does not work, the mechanism may be broken, aligned improperly or stuck by corrosion. Most drum brake assemblies have an access hole in the drum or backing plate to make manual adjustments, comment back to me if u have these access holes and I will walk you through the procedure...(check your shoe lining thickness as you may just need new brake shoes)

1. Remove the lug nuts and the wheel.

1. One way to remove the drum is to tap the drum lightly with a mallet to free the drum if resistance is felt. Sometimes brake drums are stubborn. If the drum is difficult to remove, perform the following:

1. Insert the end of a bent wire (a coat hanger will do nicely) through the hole in the brake drum and hold the automatic adjusting lever away from the adjuster.
2. Reduce the brake shoe adjustment by turning the adjuster bolt with a brake adjuster tool. The drum should now be loose enough to remove without much effort.
   
   The Brake Adjustment can be access on Rear of the BackPlate !

you will need to back off the brake adjuster through the slot in the backing plate, ther are some threaded holes in the brake drum, find some bolts and screw into these to help push the brake drum off

front rotors need to turned or replaced

Could be many things to look at. 2001 Corolla, assume disc pads in front, and regular drum style brakes in rear. Generally, most of your braking will come from the front disc brakes, and no adjustment is provided in these. Rear drum brakes can be adjusted two ways. Manually, they are adjusted by accessing the adjustment "cog" or threaded rod via a slot in the back of the plate that the drum fits up against. This should be done when the brakes shoes are first installed. As an alternative, the brakes will automatically adjust when you apply the brakes while backing up. I'd suggest that you find a big old empty parking lot, without a lot of light poles to hit, and place car in reverse, get going about 5 MPH, then hit the brakes firmly to stop. Repeat this a dozen times and see what results you get.

I am, of course, assuming that the brake fluid level is good and you see no leaks from either the front calipers or the rear brake cylinders.

the rear drum brakes work on foot and hand brake , noise under stain does it rattle could be a loose exhaust heat shield ,

You might wanna have your rear brakes checked along with the rear brake calipers or cylinders, as well as the rear drums or discs, depending on weather your car has rear drum brakes or rear discs brakes. Some cars come equipped with brake sensors that let you know when theres a problem. It would also be a good idea to check you brake fluid level.

there should be three or four large nuts on the inside of the drum. now these nuts are on realy good so it takes a lot of force to get it off if you have trouble getting it off you should get an extender to help with the force. Now with the break fluid going every were it could be cause you broke the metal tube.that is easy to replace. just follow it up and undo it.

Your 89 Corolla has drum brakes at the rear.
The graciousness of a FIxYa rating would be greatly appreciated.

to remove a stuck brake drum what I do is. there is a couple of holes in the drum a size 10mm nut screw hole. get two 10mm bolts screw it in the two OPPOSITE holes and screw in at the same time until the drum is free. we call this screws extractor. Check for any damage in the shoe and other parts because you are force extracting the drum