TR2/3/3A TR3A New Brake pads binding to New drum?

[karls59tr]

The drums don't want to spin freely. Everything is new and freshly assembled. Hydraulics not installed yet.Brake cable adjusted. Any ideas on what may be overlooked?

 

[Geo Hahn]

Seems like some shoes are oversized -- one theory I heard was that they are made on the assumption that 50 year old drums will have been turned some. I had to remove some material from the Classic Gold ones I installed to make them work.

 

[TR3Dad]

I had dragging shoes on my car, it turned out to be a sticking wheel cylinder. However, you said the hydraulics are not hooked up.

One other thing to look at is the eccentricity of the hub the drum mounts on. I have one that was slightly bent and I only noticed it when I had all 4 wheels off the ground and watched the wheels spin while in gear. The wheel itself was not bent but the hub the drum mounted on was, causing extra drag.

Good Luck

 

[TR4nut]

The 10" shoes I put on my 3A were oversized, I had to remove material as well.

 

[TR3driver]

"Back when", shoes were commonly supplied slightly oversized. The dealer had a machine that would grind them down to match your drums. The difference in effectiveness (from being arced to match the drums) was quite noticeable.

But I've not seen such a machine for a long time. If you can turn them by hand, then don't worry about it. They will quickly wear down once you start driving the car.

Er, you do have the adjuster backed off all the way, right?