Brake shoe question

A basic question for you. I have a Ford 10 bolt rear with drum brakes in my project. It has drum brakes. When I took the drums off I saw that there are two different size shoes. The problem is that on one side the large shoe is in the front and on the other it is in the rear. Looked on the web, 2 different answers. Which way is correct? Thanks

 

The shorter shoe goes on the front.

 

x2.....

 

Thanks. As soon as it warms up I'll change the one. 14 here in sunny Charlotte, NC at 7 AM.

 

It always cracked me up when I pulled a drum on a brake job and found them reversed or the long ones on one side and the short ones on the other. Usually some of the hardware was missing as well.

Get yourself a book on brakes, the old Peterson ones were great, not sure if they're still in print though.

Bob

 

the short shoe goes on the front the long on the back on both sides

 

Just remember "BB"...Big in da Back!

 

...but don't use a geographic reference point for it. Years ago, a not so bright coworker could never keep the brake shoe location straight, so the service manager told him to remember that the short shoe goes on the side closest to the workbench. One day, a car was backed onto his lift, and guess what........

 

Hmm, My old 40 juice brakes have the long one on the front. Interesting that folks made them both ways.

 

It depends on the design of the drum brake, as there are many. The Lockheed brakes that Ford used from '39-'48 were non-servo/fixed-anchor, with the larger wheel cylinder half pushing the longer forward-facing (and harder working) shoe. The '49-present Bendix and similar designs are servo, and have longer and usually thicker/different linnings on the secondary, or rear-facing shoes, because these do most of the work. You will also find modern non-servo drum brakes on the rear of many cars/lite trucks that have identical fore and aft shoes.
Bob

 

Thanks again, Da B's are now on da back, checked, adjusted and back on da ground.