Hey...glad your ok...sheeez! My wife and myself lived in Calgary from 2000-2002, and know the speeds you drive at out there, (130+ on the Deerfoot), and sudden stops during rush hour! *(I still fly out there to work on the patch every Jan. 02 for 3-months a year). Anyways,...I just got my truck on Oct. 31/09 myself. When I was driving home it pulled to the right after applying the brakes something fierce...and it also felt like a "cadillac" stopping....THAT'S because it was the smooth stopping of METAL ON METAL!....when I removed the rear drums...the shoes and springs literally fell to the ground! (I changed EVERYTHING).

 

Yeah it blows my mind that people still drive 130+ on Deerfoot in this kind of weather. Well, you know how it goes...."I gots me a 4x4, I can drive as fast as I want" Yeah, but you still can't stop worth a damn!!!!!

If I can make it to the Autovalue tonight, I have all the parts ordered up, just gotta try to get there in the wife's non-4x4 car.

Wish me luck.

 

Even with another snowstorm here in Calgary, I was able to get to the autoparts place and pick up all the stuff I needed for the brakes. 3.5 hrs later, I got one side done. Holy crap this is more difficult than disks. Biggest issue for me was that my Haynes manual pictures are for the driver's side, not passenger, so everything was backwards... took me awhile to figure THAT out. Luckily I picked up a spring tool, otherwise it would have been even more difficult. Changed the wheel cylinder too... wow, the fluid coming out of that thing was BLACK!!!!

Will work on the other side tonight and then bleed the brakes. It should go much easier now that I "kinda" know what I am doing this time.

Question though.... although the secondary shoe is sitting solidly against the anchor, the primary shoe is not as "snug". Is this normal? I'll take a photo tonight to show you guys what I am talking about.

 

There's an accident waiting to happen. Flush all that fluid out of the system ASAP. Don't be surprised if you rubber brake lines are falling apart.

 

Yes it is,..when everything is hooked up just give the shoes...assembly a snug wiggle into place type of thing. Then put on your drum, (if it goes on too easily,..pull off drum and adjust the star adjuster a few turns out, replace drum), do this a couple times so you won't have trouble driving in reverse, slamming on the brakes, to adjust your rears,..might have trouble doing this in 3' of snow on top of 1/2" of ice!! **remember...use brake cleaner, to clean all parts/surfaces,..don't use WD-40! GL. ..oh yeah flush out that "black" fluid and start bleeding in this order: 1) right rear 2)left rear 3) right front 4) left front ***As J415 said,..flush it good!..then take a moment and check your rubber brake hoses for damage....could just be eaten a bit on the inside..but better safe than sorry, (BRAKES ARE THE 1 PLACE YOU DON'T WANT TO SCIMP AND SAVE MONEY!)

 

amen!!!

 

Very cool Dogeismo! Yeah, I planned to flush the entire system. I have tons of fresh fluid for that.

OK, I am feeling better about my install then. Good call on the brake lines too. Since I am flushing everything out anyhow, may as well get as fresh as possible.

Expecting this puppy to stop on a dime once I am done.....
(ok, maybe a LOONIE)

 

Ok, one more question..... All 4 shoes I bought look EXACTLY the same. I could not see ANY discernable difference .... are they interchangeable? I have read/heard that they often are different on some vehicles.

 

On our Dodge brakes, (+most other vehicles too)..the rear shoe should have more of a "pad" on it, and the front shoes surface pad should be shorter. This is because the braking for the forward motion of the vehicle to come to a stop requires more "braking power" due to higher speeds. The "reverse" contact brake shoe, is the front, shorter "pad" surface due to less "braking power" required...because of usually low reverse speeds.

 

PS: If for some "weird" reason you happen to buy some shoes that are all the same, (1st I'd tell you to check + make sure you have all 4 proper shoes required...check the square holes, where the two peice metal plate type interlinked "Star" wheel clicker thingy, (almost explained it/sounded like a bitch there eh? ha..haa), hooks up to the shoe...for spring holes...etc.,.. the front+rear individual shoes DO have differences,..the bottom of them are different...spring holes...ya gotta look close, important to pay attention when disassembling. *any troubles,...just ask.