Need help with rear drum brakes on my 95 escort

I replaced the shoes in my rear drums and i put everything back together but the drum wont go on...is there any way i can adjust them so the drum will go bac on?:banghead:

Welcome to AF!!

First, did you have the drums turned? If not there us usually and edge on the outside edge of the drum that prohibits the new shoes from going on. If you had them turned you will need to adjust the screw down as far as possible. If that doesn't work then you will need to open the bleeder valve and totally compress the brake cylinder. Put the drum on and bleed the brakes. That should work!

emergency brake is partially on.
You need to take a pry bar of sorts and put pressure on the strut rod to pull the cable to the off/free position.
sometines you need to loosen the adjustment. follow the cable twards the front of the car and you will find a splitter, two cables going to one. loosen the adjusting nut so you have play in the cables.
Now put pressure on the strut rod and it will pull the cable back out to the off position.
the strut rod is the rod that the cable hooks to and the shoe is attatched to the strut rod.

I had the exact same problem on my 95 Escort. According to Haynes' Manual, you have to disconnect the brake cable in the back of the drum (attached by a clip, I think). The factory service manual does not mention this. I tried it both ways, and found out the hard way that you do have to disconnect the cable in order to relieve the slight tension that's spreading out the brake shoes and keeping you from sliding it in.

thanx for the help everyone....i got the drums on and the brakes are working properly......:thumbsup:

thanx for the help everyone....i got the drums on and the brakes are working properly......:thumbsup:

Thanks for letting us all know how it turned out.