I am in the process of replacing my rear brake shoes and drums on my 54 Chevy 3100, all original truck. I have done drums on other vehicles but have never run into this problem, I have the new shoes on an cannot get the drum over the shoes. I was able to get the drivers side drum on but it has a lot of drag and the star wheel is as loose as it can go. I have had no luck with the passenger side. I have done some searching on the internet and have not found anything on this specific problem
- I have adjusted the star wheel as small as it can go. - Opened the bleeder and tried to press int he wheel cylinder with the shoes in place. - Beat the shoes up, down, left and right.... probably not the smartest thing to try.... no luck anyways.
The only thing I can think of is that I got the wrong size drum from the parts store. The drums are 11 X 2 same size as the ones I pulled off, that doesn't mean the ones i took off were wrong.
Back to basics. Check the top pivot points on the shoes are fully seated on the pivot stud, the star wheel prongs slot is clear of junk and fully seated in the slot on each shoe, the ebrake mechanism is properly assembled and slackened. Got all the right parts? Maybe post a picture so we can see if...
Remove the parking brake cable from the parking brake cross bar. Loosen the anchor pin nut on the backing plate so that it will move. This will allow the shoes to self-center as you slide the drum over the shoes. No one seems to bother with setting this anchor pin, even though it is specified in The Manual any time major brake work is done.
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
Thanks for the reply, I took some pictures and hopefully i attached them correctly. On the drivers side both shoes are seated on the pivot stud, the passenger side are not and every time i try to shift one side the other side shifts off the pivot stud.
The ebrake is a good point, I have look into adjusting it but I am not exactly sure how to check the slack in it.
When I was reading the manual I saw the information about the anchor pin. Honestly, I assumed that if it was in the right position before then it would be good now. That will be the next thing i check, thanks
After messing with it some more I think my parking brake is adjusted too tight. In the manual it states that if the parking brake is set too tight it will by impossible to get the shoes centered . The parking brake lines are all rusted making it nearly impossible to adjust so I might have to buy new lines.... if that is in fact the problem.
Hy Lou54Chevy3100, welcome, it's kind of hard to tell in the photos, but it looks like you have two primary shoes mounted on the same backing plate in the first picture. I don't think that alone would stop the drum from going over the shoes, just something to check. In picture two the rear shoe is not tight to the anchor post, find out why that shoe won't sit tight to the anchor post, hope that helps.
Hy Lou54Chevy3100, welcome, it's kind of hard to tell in the photos, but it looks like you have two primary shoes mounted on the same backing plate in the first picture. I don't think that alone would stop the drum from going over the shoes, just something to check. In picture two the rear shoe is not tight to the anchor post, find out why that shoe won't sit tight to the anchor post, hope that helps.
Agreed. One show will have less friction material as far as covering the full length of the shoe. One for each side of the truck. As mentioned, primary brake shoe. If you are not paying attention, it is very easy to get both primaries on the same side.
The shoes were slightly different than the ones I took off. They are the same length but like you noticed, the new secondary shoe has more friction material than the one I took off. There is a a primary and secondary shoe in with the new ones I bought but the secondary shoe has more material than the old one. I don't think this will pose a problem... although i am not 100 percent sure. I ordered new parking brake cables since mine are rusted and I am unable to adjust them, hopefully that will fix the problem.
Do you think that the secondary shoe being different then the one I took off will cause and issues?
I got the new cables and got one side complete. It appears that the old cables were so rusted I could t adjust them. Is there a trick to getting the parking brake lever attached to the cable?
