Brake shoe problem on '66

[SCUMDOG]

Still working on my '66 Landau, got new left-rear wheel cylinder, fitted it and went to refit drum.

Had not taken shoes off backing-plate BUT when I went to refit drum it appears that front shoe (drivers side) is too 'long', i.e. it's on the adjuster at the bottom and against the anchor-pin at the top only it seems bigger than the rear shoe.

The gap between the shoe and the lip on the backing plate is only 3/8" or so but on the rear shoe it is 5/8' or more.
Drum is hard to get on and as it is pushed/tapped into place the axle centre wants to sit at the rear of the axle hole, i.e. the drum seems too far forward.

Any ideas what's gone wrong? Has somebody fitted the wrong shoe at some stage?

 

[dans65]

Sounds like an adjustment problem if the drum was on with these shoes before

 

[SCUMDOG]

Sounds like an adjustment problem if the drum was on with these shoes before

I looked at that and the only adjustment available is via the star-wheel at the bottom of the shoes, meddled with that without success.
As you say, the drum came off o.k., what the '*^%# happened while I had it off?? Is there some small gremlin that sneaks into the garage in the middle ofthe night and screws with Thunderbird brakes??

 

[tbird5866]

Compare your new shoes with the old ones. What do you mean by: "Had not taken shoes off backing-plate"? Did you replace the brake shoes?

 

[boaterbob]

Are you sure your parking brake is fully released? Some tmes you have to give it more slack on the adjustment under the car below the trans

 

[SCUMDOG]

Problem solved guys!!

I got to the 'need a fresh pair of eyes for this' situation and had a young mechanic (automotive technician??) to have a look, he got down on his knees, had a look and figured out the offending brake shoe was 'catching' on the backing plate at the lower inner edge, a quick lever with a lug-wrench and it popped right into position ta-da!! problem solved!

 

[SCUMDOG]

Compare your new shoes with the old ones. What do you mean by: "Had not taken shoes off backing-plate"? Did you replace the brake shoes?

Thanks anyway Harley but see my post above. By the way, no, I never even took the existing shoes off.