Sanity Check: Can Brake Shoes Be Installed "backwards"? (1 Viewer)

[MatthewMcD]

Finished a complete drum brake rebuild on the rear my 1975 FJ40. Napa Parts.
Followed the FSM as best as I could for the process but it did not mention the lugs on one side of the shoes.
Drums fit fine, but measuring the circumference it is much larger on the adjuster aspect and not "round" the shoes hit first over each wheel cylinder adjuster rather than the whole shoe.

Did I put them in the wrong way?

M

 

[cbmontgo]

Those wheel cylinders should be "even". Looks like the one on the right is lower than the left. I'd look there first.

 

[raisinhell2]

1. the wheel cyls push rods are ramped make sure you have them the correct way

2 shoes are never perfectly round in the old days they required sanding to be fitted properly

 

[igotta40]

You have it assembled correctly.

 

[igotta40]

Those wheel cylinders should be "even". Looks like the one on the right is lower than the left. I'd look there first.

They bolt onto the plate where the holes are. Kinda hard to get that wrong.

 

[cbmontgo]

They bolt onto the plate where the holes are. Kinda hard to get that wrong.

Yeah, I get it. Just looks different from my ‘76 with the same Napa parts.

 

[igotta40]

The shoes will center themselves.

 

[devo]

The brake pads look just right, but I have a question for you. In post #6, what muffler are you using?

 

[MatthewMcD]

All, thanks for the confirmation.

Those wheel cylinders should be "even". Looks like the one on the right is lower than the left. I'd look there first.

They came from Napa marked Left and Right, Top and Bottom, I converted that to "Front and Rear" based on my pre-disassembly photos. The bleader valves on each side are closest to the front of the car. I think that part I got right, again, based on my photos.

Also found this from another thread which I'll run out and check against my work. This is the clearest visual I have seen:

 

[73FJ40]

"Followed the FSM as best as I could for the process but it did not mention the lugs on one side of the shoes." It appears to me that your shoes are correctly oriented. However, the linings aren't exactly what OEM shoes have.

OEM FJ40 shoes have a "wide" end and a "narrow" end which are intended to assure they fit into OEM cylinders only one way. In your picture, the wide seat appears above the left cylinder and below the right cylinder.

Additionally, the brake cylinder contact points are "ramped" the higher end of the ramp faces outboard. The shoe ends then fit neatly into the cylinder ends. See below, fig 8-86:

Some aftermarket cylinders don't have wide and narrow slots, only narrow slots. Some vendors recommend grinding off the wide brake shoe end to fit into aftermarket cylinders that have narrow slots on both ends. That defeats the safety factor Toyota designed into the drum brake system.

Regarding "the linings aren't exactly OEM", if you look at the picture in post #9, the lining material is not symmetrically positioned on the metal shoe. Look at the "bumps" in the metal shoe at both ends of the shoe. The "leading" end (based on wheel rotation going forward) of the lining doesn't reach the bump, the following end of the lining extends beyond the bump. My understanding is that this offset of the lining improves brake performance going forward at some loss of performance going backwards.