D44 drums won't fit over the brakes

I'm almost done swapping an XJ D44 into my 90 XJ. The brakes are all put together, but the drums won't fit over them. It seems like the leading shoe on both sides is too far out from the center of the backing plate. I can't get both shoes aligned on the six shoe contact areas. If I move the top of the shoe in, the bottom pivots out and the adjuster wheel falls out. If I move the bottom of the shoe in, the top pivots out and comes away from the pin it's supposed to rest on. Any ideas? It almost seems like there's tension on the e-brake cable that's pushing the leading shoe out.

EDIT: This is my first time working on drum brakes, so I'm sort of flying blind (though I do have an FSM, and photos of properly assembled D44 brakes).

Make sure your ebrake is not up and is actually down . If its up your drum shoes will be actuated out and prevent you from install the drum, usually thats it.

If thats not it and you are sure you installed it all corectly, then you need to find the metal star wheel and turn it accordingly to adjust the shoes so that the drum will fit.

You want the drum to fit with a bit of small resistance of the shoes. Once its all on find yourself a clear road and reverse a few times followed by sharply hitting the brakes (low speeds tho), this will help the auto adjust mechanism a bit.

good luck
pete

jeepsrock said:

Make sure your ebrake is not up and is actually down . If its up your drum shoes will be actuated out and prevent you from install the drum, usually thats it.

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I checked that already; e-brake handle is all the way down.

jeepsrock said:

If thats not it and you are sure you installed it all corectly, then you need to find the metal star wheel and turn it accordingly to adjust the shoes so that the drum will fit.

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It doesn't seem like this helps though. If I tighten the star wheel, the shoes don't come together at the bottom. The star wheel just falls out. It almost seems like the parking brake strut is too long, keeping the shoes spread apart, but it's the stock D44 part. I'm pretty sure that you can re-use D35 e-brake cables on a D44, but maybe I'm mistaken.

Except for the parking brake lever and strut, the brakes are all-new: shoes, springs, pins, hardware, et c..

Your brake handle may be down but have the adjustment nuts on the rod been backed off? There needs to be slack in the cable to do a correct brake adjustment.
The shoes need to be adjusted correctly first then the e-brake cable set for tightness.
Wayne

Wayne Sihler said:

The shoes need to be adjusted correctly first then the e-brake cable set for tightness.

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Thanks, you can tell I haven't worked on drums before. :helpme:

So I should back off the adjuster nuts on the e-brake cables, adjust the brakes, and then adjust the e-brake cables? How do I know when the e-brake is properly adjusted? By the number of clicks until it feels like it's fully engaged?

If I remember correctly, it's supposed to be something like 5 clicks to fully engage the e-brake handle.

Shorten the star adjusters, and make sure that when you are about to put the drum on that the shoes are up on the 'ridge' of the backing plate. I've noticed that all of mine like to slide outboard a bit once they have a spring on them...they end up outside that 'ridge' and the drum will not fit correctly. It feels like you need three hands (or two realy big ones) to get it all together.

...and yes, D35 brake cables will fit the D44. You need to make sure you don't have tension in that part of the system before proceeding.

There are 9 1/2" and 10" shoes and drums for a D44.

Figured it out. Loosened the parking brake cables, and the drums slid right on.