With mine, I ended up replacing the drums. The aftermarket drums fit just fine. I think I just got the plain Jane ones at O'Reilly.

 

Just for giggles, I held my tape measure up against your pic. I don't know if you measured them or its photo distortion but the red colored shoes appear to be wider than the black colored ones. I can tell by looking at the ends that the shoes are different. Did you measure them?

Here's the row...in 96 your ram should have had 11x2 inch rear shoes, but later rams had 11x 2.25.

EDIT: I did another check and noticed that dodge vans in '96 used the wider shoe. Because you have more braking area the wider shoes may have thinner pads.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone.
2damnyankee, the inside of the drum is lip free and no rough spots.
I took them in to see if they could be turned for the hell of it and was told they are slightly out of spec for turnings.

dsertdog56, didn't measure them but from the pic it looks like the old ones are a bit wider.
Can't measure them now cause I returned them already.
About the measurements, are you referring to the pad area or the whole thing ?
They are 2" wide but far longer than 11.5.

 

Measure across the width of the pad and tell us what the width is on the old ones then measure from end to end on the shoe. Do not run the tape around the radius but from the toe where the shoe goes to the top pin to the very bottom.

Also , if the shoes have been replaced before (and you'd think they would have) there should be a three digit # stamped on the metal somewhere. Most aftermarket pads have them.

 

Yeah I was measuring the radius.
Toe to toe they are 10.5 and 2" thick.

 

you've probably got just got the wrong shoes that somebody mixed up at the parts store, or maybe returned or something. just take them back, along with a pair of your original ones, and check them at the store. it happens all the time...

 

Already did that, as described.
Went to 2 different stores, everything they are pulling up on the computers is wrong.
Will update if I have any progress today.

 

Tried again, failed.
These seemed a little closer so I gave them a try, same results.
Gonna try one more store later, if no joy guess I'll have to look into getting the old ones rebuilt.

 

There's an inner lip on the backing plate. You can see it in the last pic you posted. It looks like the tops of the pads are withing that lip. Are the bottoms of the pads within that lip? If they are not, did you try the bleeder valve to take some pressure off of the cylinder? You should be able to push the plungers in more than what is in the picture.

The piece that you are looking at that is longer shouldn't effect anything. It doesn't touch anything. It really only holds the brake material on to the shoe. It's the metal piece perpendicular to that that has the holes and tabs on it that you have to watch out for. That's the piece where all the springs attach and stuff.

Another thing you might try is to rotate the drum when you put it on. Put it on, if it doesn't go, rotate it clockwise one stud and try. Do that all the way around. If it is warped, it will only go on a certain way.

Also, maybe a dumb question but, do you have your parking brake on? If so, you need to release it.

And the only other thing I can think of is you said you put on a 3500 wheel cylinder. I can't remember if you have a 1500 or 2500. I don't know if it will go on a 2500 but it may be too big for the 1500. The 1500 and 2500 have the same part number the last I checked but the 3500 is wider and that could be your problem.

 

+1 on the bleedoff. If the shoes aren't tight against the top mount (round pin), you need to get them against that.

I noticed something else, which I've never seen on brakes. There appears to be something like a hogring being used to attach the spring on the left to the top pin. Is that factory? My 00 doesnt have that, and all the other mopars I've done brakes on over time haven't either.