Drum Brake tune up

[Mariah]

Cut shallow notches in the trailing shoe only to even shoe wear. This will help to keep the brakes from loss of their effectiveness as the shoes wear with use.

 

[Mariah]

 

[Mariah]

 

[Mariah]

xxx

 

[SAT]

Thanks for the tip and taking the time to post this thread.
Steve

 

[manchester1]

Nice work.

 

[MJL]

What exactly does this do?

 

[capguncowboy]

What exactly does this do?

This will help to keep the brakes from loss of their effectiveness as the shoes wear with use.

She already explained

 

[MJL]

She already explained

Yes, but why?

 

[mrpat]

Yes, but why?

If I had to guess, it would keep the brake dust channelling out. It would also reduce the heat therefore reducing the glazing on the shoes

 

[Mariah]

The leading shoe does most of the work so it wears out faster. The trailing shoe needs to wear a bit quicker to keep up with its mate, so we hack it up with a hacksaw to help it wear faster.

 

[MJL]

Aren't they symetrical front to back? If so, could you just flip them over? I guess the wear patterns would be a bit different...

 

[Havasu Dave]

Aren't they symetrical front to back? If so, could you just flip them over? I guess the wear patterns would be a bit different...

Yes, but the object is keep the brakes operating with known parameters with regard to fade or grab.

The secondary object is to keep from having to remove and replace the brakes for longer intervals. If you go through the hassle of getting to the shoes, you might as well replace them with new shoes.

Many set ups require removing wheel, loosening hub from axle, removing six mounting nuts/bolts, removing brake backing plate from live axle mounts, "then" changing brake pads, messing with two front and two back springs. And once that's done, repeat the process, including the required alignment on the axle.