Drum brake question...

[Rick]

Does the larger shoe go towards the front or the rear of the vehicle?

I just started working on the brakes on my trailer and they were all messed up... Each side had one assembly for the right side and one assembly for the left side. I can't trust that the shoes were installed correctly so I need to know if the larger shoe goes towards the front or the rear of the vehicle. It's been quite awhile since I've done anything with drums.

 

[ExplorerDMB]

I want to say the larger shoe is in the rear. The small one makes contact first up front which then pushes the adjuster/anchor into the other andthe larger shoe makes more contact on the rear. I could be wrong. But I am pretty sure

-Drew

 

[spindlecone]

The primary shoe is always the back shoe, the secondary shoe mounts to the front of the drum (smaller of the two) will STFU now.

 

[Rick]

Makes sense... that's probably why all my brake shoes were cracked. Whoever set the thing up was an idiot... I can't believe how messed up everything was! When I bought the trailer it only had brakes on one axle. I took it back a week later to have brakes put on the other axle. I would assume it originally had brakes on the rear axle. Those were set up correctly as far as the hardware being correct for each side of the axle, but the shoes were installed with the large shoe in front and the small in the rear. The front axles brakes were installed on the wrong side. I had to disconnect the electrical connection for the magnets and install them on the correct orientation. What a PITA!

 

[BrooklynBay]

That is one thing I could never understand. Why can't both sides just come as the bigger shoe to have a large gripping area? Wouldn't that make them grab better, and extend their service life?