Putting new drums and new pads on today...... Can't get the drums to slide over the brake shoes / pads! Yes, I bled the wheel cylinder to get the shoes to pull in as far as they will, and I have the adjuster set in as far as it will go too. If I turn the drum as I try to push it on, I can weasel it about halfway on, then it just gets too tight. The other side was tight too, but not this tight. What the hell!? Thanks! Heckler
Front or rears? I had this same problem on my '60 F100. I needed to adjust the parking brake cable, loosen it up and those drums should slip on.
***uming the shoes are new or relined, there is usually a slight excess of shoe material thickness. This means the cir***ference, the O.D., of the drum is slightly smaller than the I.D. of the drum. Quite often it is necessary to do a bit of grinding on the steel end of the shoe. The part that fits into the wheel cylinder or adjuster. A little bit removed from each end. Center the shoes and pop them on. Of course, the adjusters must be backed off all the way.
I've noticed a lot of replacement shoes have lining that is a bit thicker than what standard thickness would be. That causes a problem when using new drums,shoes need to be arced/ground to fit the drums. Hard to find anyone that does that anymore. If there is a shop that does big truck relining near you see if they can arc the shoes. Quick way to tell if this is the problem is to put a shoe into the drum and if you can put a .003-.005 feeler gauge between the drum and lining in the center of the shoe that means the lining is too thick. What exactly ya working on ? drum diameter?
Flatheadguy, That's just the kind of tip I was looking for! I did this and it worked reasonably well, but everything is still dragging pretty hard. I found a place in town that will arc the shoes/pads to match the drums, so I',m going to do that. Thanks for all the advice! Heckler
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