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Installing rear brake drums

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PeterK

PeterK

Yoda
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Happy New Year to all (almost)!!
I'm assembling the rear drum brakes on my TR4A solid axle chassis and having trouble getting the drums over the shoes. Everything is new, using 240Z drums machined center hole, stud holes and outside rim to fit the backing plate, 7/8" Morgan wheel cylinders, Kevlar shoes from TSI, the adjusters are backed all the way down, all components are in the proper places.
When I try to push the drum over the shoes, It seems to bind up on the drum - from the marks on the shoes I see when I remove it, I can see that it goes over the shoes about an inch. I could probably use a rubber mallet and a few HARD whacks to get it on but I'm afraid I'd never get it back off again. I'm thinking that the shoes may be too thick?
Any suggestions? Should I consider grinding down the end of the metal on the shoes or having the shoes re-arc'ed? Feeling pretty stupid on this as it should be simple. Thanks.
PeterK
 
Peter, if all else fails, you can always put the drums on the brake lathe and just take a skim cut. Nothing substantial, probably only .010" or so would do the trick.
Does anybody even arc shoes anymore?
Jeff
 
Your new brake linings are likely a bit too thick. It is a pretty simple operation for a brake shop to measure the ID of your drums & arc (grind) the shoes to fit the diameter of the drums.
D
 
Thanks for the tip. That was my guess too. Could be that the 240z drum metric diameter is just a bit smaller than the TR and, using new shoes, there's interference. Peter
 
Re: Installing rear brake drums - the solution!

Thanks for all of the suggestions. What it turned out to be is that the outside arc of one shoe did not fit precisely to the circumference of the drum. It would rock back and forth when placed in the drum for fit. I swapped to a new set of std. shoes and all is fine. I'll call TSI tomorrow and returm the bad Kevlar shoe.
 
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