Rear brake job -- should I replace wheel cylinders?

[attofarad]

I'm contemplating a rear brake job on my wife's 2001 QX4. At 265k miles, the only thing ever done to the rears is clean/lube and adjust every 30k miles or so. They still work fine.

I might just do one more clean/lube and leave it -- (I can probably get another 30k miles = 4 years) -- or just replace the shoes and hardware, or also replace the drums. I haven't found anyone local that actually turns drums anymore.

Should I also replace the wheel cylinders while at it? The cost and effort is minor, but I always worry about creating a new problem while unhooking the hydraulic connections, which may not be as minor.

[Mike W.]

Probably not a bad idea with that mileage, but I think I'd crack the lines before I went any further, just to make sure I wasn't opening a can of worms by digging in further than I really needed to in the interest of best practices, not what's needed. You don't want to be in the position of rounding off or twisting off the brake line and having to chase it further upstream. That could get ugly.

[AZhitman]

^ This. If the cylinders aren't leaking, skip it.