The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline brake shoes

Hi Folks,
Am putting new brakes on 55 series II 1/2T. Was told that the brakes shoes are different front to rear. The rears should be 1.75" wide and the fronts 2" wide. Heard also that the shoes front and rear are different lengths. The longer shoes go to the rear and the shorter to the front. Wheel cylinders are 1 1/8 diameter on the front brakes and 1" diameter on the rears.
Could somebody please confirm the above. My brakes are shot and somebody in the course of the last 55 years installed some wierd parts that do not conform to the above info.
Many Thanks!

confirmed ... front shoes = Raybestos 228RP - rear shoes = Raybestos 55-RR - [F&R fit 57 BelAir] .... check the manual for a visual on how they're placed, if you don't have one it's online

Bill

yes...the longer ones go to the rear. You can also buy new shoes from Advance Auto....overnight shipping if not in stock and they are not expensive.

Just to clarify, there is one short shoe and one long shoe in each brake assembly for each wheel. The short shoe goes in the front of the assembly, long shoe in the rear.

Actually, the shoes on Bendix brakes are identical, and can be installed in either position. The lining on the shoe that's supposed to be installed in the forward position on both front and rear axles is shorter by about an inch. The bottom of the shoe assemblies "floats", and the rotation of the drum helps force the rear shoe into contact with the drum as the brakes are applied. If the short lining is installed to the rear, a lot of brake effectiveness is lost, and the linings wear out quickly. I'ved also seen brake pull problems caused by both short linings being installed on one side, and the long ones on the other.
Jerry

Thanks to all who responded to my post. New brake shoes and wheel cylinders and drums are in. Got all the air our and have adjusted all 4 wheels so there is just a slight drag when I spin the wheels in a forward or reverse diretion. Master cylinder was replaced last year. Also adjusted the emergency brake cables (new) so there is the same drag at each rear wheel, All of this drag stuff is very subjective and even after a test drive the subjective drag was the same at all four corners. Braking is much better than before and the hand brake works fine. No pulling or wheel blocking with the hand brake or service brakes. Should I have done anything differently? Being a curious person I thought I'd check the brake drum temps. Even though everything seems to be working fine. Front right and rear left had double the temps of front left and rear right. Does anyone have an explanation for this? I plan to put a few hundred miles on it and then check again. As nothing is dragging or blocking I should be OK but it seems wierd.
Thanks!

Your adjustment procedure is a little off. Since the shoe assembly floats at the bottom, relying on drag to get a good adjustment is pretty inaccurate. The proper way to adjust a Bendix brake is to tighten the adjuster until there's a firm drag on the wheel when it's turned by hand, but not quite locked up, then back the adjuster wheel off one full turn. That's 10 clicks on the starwheel with the coarse teeth, or 20 on the fine-toothed wheel used with self-adjusters. Pay no attention to whether or not there's any drag- - - -the shoes center themselves when the brake is applied. With the bottom of the shoes free to move, one shoe can drag the drum even with a lot of clearance dialed in. Your temperature difference tells me that some of the brakes can't quite retract far enough to avoid dragging the drum with the brakes released.
Jerry