Brake Drum Question

[mrflint]

I looked at my 64K brake lining today on 2002 SES. The rear drum seems to have a groove or channel that matches the shoes width, there is even a slight lip on the open side of the drum.

Let me clarify, I've seen shoes with lining worn completely off grinding grooves into the drum.

My shoes are riding in this channel and its polished by the lining. I thougt it was a problem on the drum and bought a new drum. I checked the other side and it was exactly the same with channel in drum. The new drum has no channel in it, this is what I expected to see. FWIW the replacement drum is off the shelf Raybestos.

If the lining was adjusted any more, I could have a real problem removing those drums.
Have not replaced shoes yet, lining doesn't look bad for milage, but those drums...

My question, is there something wrong with my drums or its this normal for a taurus drum??

[TaurusKing]

Are you talking about the edge of the drum opposite the lug side?? Around the circumference of the drum?? It's normal to have a sort of edge build up there.. one of my cars had an edge so bad I ended up cutting the holddown pins on each shoe and just ripping the entire drum off the car, so much rust had built up, even backing the shoes all the way down didn't work... in fact if there's a lot of miles on the shoes, now I just chop the pins anyway because I always use new hardware..

[mrflint]

Thanks Taurusking, the ridge is on the opposite side from the lug holes. I didn't notice if it was rust; it felt solid and lhad the same rustly brown color of the outside of the drum. I'll check it again and get back.

[TaurusKing]

Well ,the shoes don't wear the drum to the very edge, you'll end up with some sort of lip there.. cutting the drumremoves it, or since drums mostly are pretty cheap today, most just replace them with new..

[shorod]

As TaurusKink mentioned, the edge/lip you are talking about is common with any cars with drum brakes, not just the Taurus. It is a combination of rust and wear from the abrasive pad material.

-Rod