'95 T&C brake shoes different sizes?

[GA_RR]

I replaced the brake shoes on a '95 T & C and for some reason the drum on the passenger's side just won't go on without a lot of force. I have the lower adjuster all the way in and the cyclinder is fully compressed as well as the parking brake. My last though this evening was maybe the shoes are different sizes for the leading and trailing shoe. I know I can obviously go pull the drums off again and check but figured I'd see if someone might know before I go back to the trouble.
TIA

[KManiac]

On drum brakes, each side has a leading shoe and a trailing shoe. The shoe facing front (leading shoe) has less friction material than the shoe facing the rear (trailing shoe).

A common mistake made putting on brake shoes is placing the two leading shoes on one side and the two trailing shoes on the other side. The drum placed over the pair of leading shoes fits without a problem. The drum placed over the pair of trailing shoes will scrape or not go on at all. It sounds like this is your problem.

Don't feel bad. I been there, done that and have the T-shirt.

[GA_RR]

Awsome, that's definitely got to be the case. Just glad to have it figured out now. Ready to get the car back together for my little brother so I can have my truck back

Thank you for the help.

Originally Posted by KManiac

On drum brakes, each side has a leading shoe and a trailing shoe. The shoe facing front (leading shoe) has less friction material than the shoe facing the rear (trailing shoe).

A common mistake made putting on brake shoes is placing the two leading shoes on one side and the two trailing shoes on the other side. The drum placed over the pair of leading shoes fits without a problem. The drum placed over the pair of trailing shoes will scrape or not go on at all. It sounds like this is your problem.

Don't feel bad. I been there, done that and have the T-shirt.

[GA_RR]

I was thinking about this some more today. Are you certain it's the shoe with less material facing forward. If I am remembering the set up correct, the forward facing shoe is the one connected to the parking brake? Wouldn't it then make more sense to have the shoe with more material be the one used for it?

Originally Posted by KManiac

On drum brakes, each side has a leading shoe and a trailing shoe. The shoe facing front (leading shoe) has less friction material than the shoe facing the rear (trailing shoe).

A common mistake made putting on brake shoes is placing the two leading shoes on one side and the two trailing shoes on the other side. The drum placed over the pair of leading shoes fits without a problem. The drum placed over the pair of trailing shoes will scrape or not go on at all. It sounds like this is your problem.

Don't feel bad. I been there, done that and have the T-shirt.

[chubbygoatboy]

When you set the parking brake, it pushes out on BOTH shoes, the front and rear.

[GA_RR]

Originally Posted by chubbygoatboy

When you set the parking brake, it pushes out on BOTH shoes, the front and rear.

As far as I can tell it doesn't with this vehicle. All other drum brakes I've worked on have, but the connecting plate only hooks and pushes out on the forward shoe on this van.