Hi, i'm new to this forum but i had a few questions to ask you guys around here. My deal is i recently changed out my rear brake shoes but as i go to put the drum back on it's really hard to put the drum back on and once i am able to force the drum back on when i go and try to take it off it's really hard and i can kinda wabble the top part of the drum but the bottom part wont budge at all and it would kinda pull it back like something is holding the drum back and i cant turn the tire at all. So any input on this would be nice thank you.

 

did you shrink the adjuster(start wheel) to accomodate the thicker linings?

a brake drum caliper is a cheap tool (15bucks) that will help you set the shoes in the right place before installing the drum, then its only a couple of clicks ofthe star whee to adjust completley

 

What is a "brake drum caliper"? post a picture or link of what the look like?

 

http://img176.imageshack.us/i/parkbraketf8.gif/
they call it a gague but i remember my packaging calling it a caliper
simple tool with built in rule
1 thumb knnob to lock it to the size then use other side inside drum

 

That's a tool I'll never see a need for. I've done a couple rears in my life and it doesn't take a genius to adjust the shoes so it fits. The only time I had an issue was due to a stuck parking brake cable which I elimnated to fix the prob.

 

I agree drum brakes are far from rocket science but the first car you come across where the crappy little window they give you to adjust the star wheel is completley awkward you can appreciate getting the adjustment almost spot on the first time

another advantage of this tool is it's hard to see an out of round drum but this does easily

 

Never had that problem with out of round, I just put the drum on an Ammco 4000

 

You also need to use the the drum caliper to see if the drum is over size and needs to be replace. If the drum is under size, then can resurface it.