Seems to me how tight brake shoes can go together are regulated by 2 things.
On the bottom, the star adjusting screw. Mine is backed off to 0.
Towards the top, just under the cylinder and mostly blocked from view, is a spacing bar, the ends of which are circled in the pic.
The shoes are pressing in as far as possible on this spacer, after that the plungers of the cylinder have no effect. They could be all the way in, and the shoes would still be in the same position due to the spacer.

Kinda botched the drawing, I circled the left plunger, the other fork of the space bar is right underneath.

I have rotated the drum, believe me. No even close in any position.

Parking brake in not engaged.

I've read a couple threads here of people putting these cylinders on their 1500's, thats where I got the idea.
Perfect fit, in any case I can't see how this would affect the fitting of the drum, considering the above circumstances.

Seems to me that if a shoe is 1/4 longer, x that by 2 for the other shoe, you got an extra half inch that wasn't there before.
Things are naturally tight within a drum when you got new shoes, add another 1/2 inch and that may well make it impossible.
Thats what I'm thinking, unless I'm missing something here.
Not only that but the holes are not aligned as they should be. The 2 retaining springs are a bit **** eyed, and the springs will either have more compression than they were designed for, or not enough.

dsert ,,

The tops are tight against the top pin.
That hogring is a piece of work, all I can say is its the exact same on the other side, and seems to tie in that section together, like it was designed to do exactly what it does.

I'm mystified guys.
Tried another parts store and they pulled up the same shoes.
Had them look up Ram van brakes just for the hell of it, not even close, a different design all together.
Guy at the parts store said he thought they were some kind of high performance part because they are red.
I'm gonna try NAPA Monday, and another little parts store I know of.
After that I'll either look into having the old ones rebuilt, or just put the old ones back on and drive the damn thing to a brake shop and let them figure something out.

 

For a double check, measure the diameter of your used drum then measure a aftermarket parts counter drum that they say fits with the new shoes. I also would check with a Dodge or Chrysler parts counter employee. My Chrysler dealer always match's online OEM parts prices and if its not instock the most i've waited is 3 days. Don't forget your vin before you stop in and ask him/her to print your build sheet while your there.

 

The more I think about that the more I think you are right.
So they're slightly longer, that still should not affect the overall diameter as long as they follow the same arc, which they do.
I gotta be doing something wrong, for kicks I think I am going to slap my old brakes back on and see how that goes, if the drum slides on at least I can eliminate the new cylinder from being a factor.

 

For anyone still following this strange saga, I've verified again that the cylinder plungers are not the problem, they push in fairly easily and it is the space bar, top and bottom that prevents further closure.
The placement of the space bar matches the only logical position, matches the other side, and matches the picture I took before I started taking things apart.
There is literally no other way for it to go in, I can't see that being the problem.
The space bar keeps equal pressure in the middle, but even if it were not there, you have the top end locked on the top pin, and you have the bottom end regulated by the star wheel self adjusting screw, so even with this space bar out of the equation, I can't see how they would push together any further than they are now.

The tops are butting against the top pin, the adjusting screw appears correctly installed and backed off to 0.
These damn things are as far in as they are ever going to get without a grinding wheel.

11 inches is the spread of the shoes at the widest point - And 11 inches is the inside diameter of the drum.
I called Murrays, and he said their new drums are also 11 inches.

Is it possible for the parking brake to have engaged without a push on the pedal, and without a pull on the release handle having any effect ?

 

Hate to keep flogging this goat but 1 more piece of info.
I measured the inside length of each piece from tip to bottom, following the curve with the measuring tape.
The old ones are 14 1/4.
New ones are 14 1/2.

A full 1/2 inch when both pieces are considered.
This has got to be the problem.

 

yep, start grinding

 

Do the new or old shoes have any stamping numbers on them any where?
I would take a set of shoes to the parts place and find some that match. Raybestos used to make a lifetime warranty shoe for Checkers and for the longest time they painted them red to id them from the cheaper shoes.

 

Lol grinding, yeah that and a little duct tape should fix it !

Yeah I'm sure they are stamped, gonna try a couple off the wall places tomorrow, and maybe a dealer, someones gotta have em.

 

Tried a couple more places, no luck.

Put the old ones back on, drum slipped on too easy, as I knew it would. Had to engage the adjuster screw about 25-30 clicks to get them close [pic taken before I did that].
Swapped the cylinder on the other side, put the tires back on and thats about it, gonna bleed the brakes tomorrow.
Don't know where I'll go from here, I have verified that anything I am going to get from any store is going to be wrong, and the old shoe is no longer available for comparisons.
The shoes have some life left in them, so at least I installed some new cylinders and cleaned some brake parts for all of this effort.

I'm thinking my truck must have a non stock rear end or something, but I still don't see why finding a particular shoe is such a pain in the ***, like they were the only set ever made.

 

i would agree that you may be the victim of a rear end swap, possibly with a 1st gen, or a van, or something.

you could try to alter the new shoes to match your old

or, you could camp out in the parts store and go through all dodge brake shoes looking for a match to your old, starting with similar year vans.