My son's '99 PreRunner used to have somewhat touchy brakes. For some reason now the brake pedal has to be pushed in a lot farther than before. I've tried bleeding the brake lines and removed some air but there is still a lot of travel on the brake pedal. Are there any 'tricks' to bleeding brakes on a PreRunner other than the standard way?

Does his truck have drum brakes?

Does his truck have drum brakes?
Yes, on the rear wheels

Make sure the rear brakes are adjusted properly.

I thought they were self adjusting?
....but tell me more.

Drum brakes don't always adjust enough on their own. Since I rarely go backwards, mine hardly adjust at all. If the shoes have to travel more, then you have to push farther down on the brake pedal.

You've probably hit on the cause. We pulled the brake drums to check the shoes. Then we turned the star wheel to bring the shoes in so we could get the drums back on easily. Reading in the Chilton (Haynes?) manual, it talked about the brakes adjusting automatically. Maybe it has too much to adjust. What do you suggest? manually adj thru the oval slot a few clicks on the star wheel on each brake assy?

Yes, just till there is a little drag when turning the drum.
The way drum brakes adjust automatically is you back up and step on the brakes firmly. Example, pulling out of parking space.

We'll jack up the rear wheels tomorrow and see if they drag at all. I'm thinking they'll probably be 'free-wheeling!" Thanks for your input!!

Remove the wheel/tire when adjusting.
Good night.

OK, thanks.

That did the trick. Manually adjusted the rear brakes and now the pedal travel is like it was before. Great braking also!!