drum brake question

[cathynkeith]

ok, stupid question short shoe in front or back?
When I took it apart, the rr had to shor shoes installed, the truck had 3 different style drums and some short shoes were in the front some in the rear....it never did stop very well.....

[FORDification]

The leading/primary shoe is longer and should go in front and the trailing/ secondary shoe is shorter and goes in back.

[cathynkeith]

thanks keith, i did it right, i'm just not happy with the performance, everything is new but the lines. I may have a restriced line.

[cathynkeith]

well darn it, I got two different shop owners both with over 30 years experience, one that worked for for when theses trucks were born that says the long shoe goes in the back and short in the front....

[FORDification]

Hmmm....well, maybe I have that wrong. It HAS been a while. Let me check into that.

[Darrman]

Its short to the front, long to the back......

[fordman]

you guys got me. i havent touched drum brakes in so long im cant remember i would have to ask someone myself.

[MadMaxetc]

I always put them on the same as the came of...

sorry...I am a smart ass today.

[cathynkeith]

I always put them on the same as the came of...

sorry...I am a smart ass today.

well if ya did this truck that way you would have 2 short shoes on the rr, 3 diffrent style drums, lf had long shoe in front , rf had short shoe in front and lr had long shoe in front.

Now everything is right and I still have the same problem. New drums, wheel cylinders, all hard ware including adjusters and springs along with shoes. Even new master cyl, and booster.

The pedal is easy to push about 2 inches but then you have to apply force, it pulls right and the rr locks up.

I hate drum brakes, but I did not want to spend the money on disc conversion.

Going to bleed again today for the soft pedal and force problem. I have adjusted and adjust the rr to keep it from locking. I have adjusted the lf to stop the right pull but to no glory.

Did I say I hate drum brakes?

[70_F100]

The short shoe always goes on the front.

[FORDification]

Yep, I checked and found out I was wrong....you guys are correct, the short shoe always goes to the front, the longer shoe to the back. I was driving by my friendly local NAPA and even had them pull a set off the shelf so we could compare them. The shoe frames are identical, but with a 4-shoe set, two of them have longer linings. Sorry about the misinformation. However, just to set the record straight, some vehicles DO have it the other way around.

Your problem with just the R/R locking up might be showing that the L/R isn't adjusted out enough. Do you have the auto-adjusters hooked up and working too? Have you tried backing up a few times and hitting the brakes to help out with evening them out?

[Nausea]

I always heard that the primary shoe (with the longer pad) was supposed to ride against/contact the anchor pin during forward travel while braking. Kinda makes sense considering that the front shoe would assert significant pressure via the adjuster onto the rear shoe.
Wonder if it actually makes a difference on wear also

[LUB69F100]

Long shoe goes on the back.........when the truck is stopping, the weight is on rear shoes and everyone's hands are in front of their faces while screaming ever so slightly.........


sorry......got carried away


Lub

[fordman]

usually when that happens i usuually say in my head oh sh*t and brace for either a impact or a way out of hitting some idiot. like taking the ditch instead.