problems with new rear brakes

hey, a buddy of mine just picked up a '91 laredo, the rear brakes needed to be done and the lines were wasted so he went ahead and replaced everything, i mean everything, the shoes, drums, new spring kit and self adjusters, new wheel cylinders, new rubber brake line, new hard lines all the way to the master, and even new e-brake cables. now here is his issue he swears it went together right and everything is sitting how it should but he cannot fit the drums on at all, the ebrake is'nt locked on, the shoes are in correct order, the wheel cylinders are compressed in, the star wheel is backed in as small as it can go and he said he replaced every spring in the same order they previously were. does anybody have any suggestion at all as to the problem, and no the parts are not incorrect, he double checked 3 times with parts store and even a completely different store.

eric

The only thing that comes to mind is that the shoes may be resting against the wrong (larger in diameter) area of the (for lack of the correct term, I'll call it) "pivot boss" at the bottom of the backing plate. Don

What is the diameter of his new drums?
How about some pictures?

Maybe the axle is not origonal to the vehicle ? Could be a 35,44 0r 8.25.A 9" drum would not fit too well on a 10" brake shoe.
10x 1 3/4",10x 2 1/2" and 9x 2 1/2" were all available in those axles.
Wayne

well i know for a fact its a dana 35 and thats what he ordered the parts for, as for the drums i'm not sure he diamater of them but they are the same diameter as the old ones he took off. the shoes are sitting correctly at all pivot points, they fit very nice and snug but the dang drum just won't slide on. anybody ever get a set of shoes that was too thick?

eric

eric91xj said:

well i know for a fact its a dana 35 and thats what he ordered the parts for, as for the drums i'm not sure he diamater of them but they are the same diameter as the old ones he took off. the shoes are sitting correctly at all pivot points, they fit very nice and snug but the dang drum just won't slide on. anybody ever get a set of shoes that was too thick?

eric

Click to expand...

What's the PN# and brand of the shoes you have?

sounds like he got the shoes for a bigger drum.

Make sure the strut and spring is on right, one end on the shoe the other on the park lever.
Make sure every thing is centered, new shoes and drums can fit tight and off center just a little can keep them from going on.

'Just correcting my original reply a little for-what-it's worth. Now that we have a nice schematic, what I referred-to as a "pivot boss" is indicated here as an "anchor pin" and, I'm now realizing that's at the top - - - not at the bottom as I had pictured in my mind. Don

When all those parts are new, it's a very tight fit. You usually have to play around with the centering of the shoes a good deal to get the drums on. Make sure the shoes are really resting completely on the pivot bosses, and that the adjuster is not partially hung up on one of the shoes at the bottom. You'll probably need wiggle things around, up and down, to make sure everything seats properly. Sometimes it helps to whack the shoes a bit with a rubber hammer or something to get them to lie down right. And the drum has to go on very straight - even a little tilt, and it won't go.

that diagram is great, i was looking at it and i noticed something. the strut and spring is only supposed to contact the front shoe correct? he has it set up so one end contacts the front shoe but the other side goes over both the shoe and the parking lever. is this incorrect? his strut also has a bend in it, he was wondering if the bend should be facing up, or down.

eric

eric91xj said:

that diagram is great, i was looking at it and i noticed something. the strut and spring is only supposed to contact the front shoe correct? he has it set up so one end contacts the front shoe but the other side goes over both the shoe and the parking lever. is this incorrect? his strut also has a bend in it, he was wondering if the bend should be facing up, or down.

eric

Click to expand...

His installation is correct, provided the bend is upward, away from the backing plate retaining bolts.

As far as fitting the drums on the assembled brakes, did you guys place a bare shoe inside the drum to check for proper arc of contact? That would help you spot the wrong size shoes pretty quick, as they would contact the smaller drums only at the ends, and clear in the middle.

hmm, thats a damn good idea, i gotta tell him to take the shoes off and check that.

thanx.

Make sure you have the leading and trailing shoes positioned correctly. They are shaped differently and are of different size. This is a common mistake.

AZ Jeff said:

eric91xj said:

that diagram is great, i was looking at it and i noticed something. the strut and spring is only supposed to contact the front shoe correct? he has it set up so one end contacts the front shoe but the other side goes over both the shoe and the parking lever. is this incorrect? his strut also has a bend in it, he was wondering if the bend should be facing up, or down.

eric

Click to expand...

His installation is correct, provided the bend is upward, away from the backing plate retaining bolts.

As far as fitting the drums on the assembled brakes, did you guys place a bare shoe inside the drum to check for proper arc of contact? That would help you spot the wrong size shoes pretty quick, as they would contact the smaller drums only at the ends, and clear in the middle.

Click to expand...

No, he is incorrect.

One end fits on the shoe, the other end fits on the parking brake lever ONLY. Not the other shoe. Actually, I don't think with the early 10" brakes it would be possible to assemble with the strut contacting both shoes, but I've never worked on one of the newer ones with the 9" brakes.

Eagle said:

No, he is incorrect.

One end fits on the shoe, the other end fits on the parking brake lever ONLY. Not the other shoe. Actually, I don't think with the early 10" brakes it would be possible to assemble with the strut contacting both shoes, but I've never worked on one of the newer ones with the 9" brakes.

Click to expand...

Eagle, are you sure the width of the slot on the lever end of the strut is wide enough to only go over the lever? I don't think it is. In other words, what I am saying is the strut has different width slots in it's two ends, and the WIDER end goes towards the side with lever, and actually spans both the lever and the shoe stiffner. (At least that's the way I remember it from the past......)

AZ Jeff said:

Eagle, are you sure the width of the slot on the lever end of the strut is wide enough to only go over the lever? I don't think it is. In other words, what I am saying is the strut has different width slots in it's two ends, and the WIDER end goes towards the side with lever, and actually spans both the lever and the shoe stiffner. (At least that's the way I remember it from the past......)

Click to expand...

X2

yeah i'm still a bit uncertain about the placement of the strut and spring. for reference yesterday i took a look at the brakes on my '96 country which is an identical set up to my buddys '91 and on my jeep the strut contacted both shoes, not just the parking lever and my brakes seem to be working great so i don't think its incorrect but you never know.

eric

I'm the guy with the brake problems. To answer the controversy, the ebrake strut does have to different width gaps on both ends. One is skinnier, and fits around only the one shoe (unsure which at the very moment), and the other end has a wider gap in which the opposite shoe and ebrake bracket sit between. Everything seats snugly, but it appears that the shoes might be ever so slightly extended which prevents the drums from fitting the way they should. This is hard to comprehend considering I loosened the ebrake cable enough so that it doesn't engage from inside the vehicle, and I replaced the cable on each side, so that I know there's no issues as far as the cables seizing within the sleeves. One thing which does concern me is that the Brake light is constantly lit up on the dash, even if the ebrake isn't engages and there is brake fluid.

The jeep does have a decent amount of corrosion on the parts underneath it.. indicating it was either sitting in mud for awhile, water, or just a lot of condensation. I'll go fiddle with it some more... and hopefully have pics up for you guys to check out.

Again, thanks for sticking with the thread, I need to get this thing on the road as I'm starting my new job in a few days.

-Ryan