Brake shoe help please

[1425956]

Hi all. I am changing my rear brake shoes and installing new wheel cylinders and a spring kit. I took everything off of the right rear and left the left rear in place for reference. However, I noticed the sides are opposite of each other as far as part location. Question is, I do not remember if the long shoe went toward the front or rear of the truck on the passenger rear (right rear)? Not sure if this would be opposite of the other side since everything else is. Thanks!

[Restrorob]

Short shoes always go toward the front of the vehicle, Long to the rear.....

[1425956]

Thanks Restrorob!

[1425956]

I am finally finished with my rear brake rebuild. This was my first time to work on brake drums and I must say it went better than expected. At first look when pulling the drum, all of the springs and levers seem to be a little overwhelming, but it really is a simple system that is effective when it is working properly.

I started with the right rear and kept the left rear in tact to use as a reference. My initial run to the parts store left me with a set of new new shoes, an all-in-one kit and 2 new wheel cylinders that were all wrong. The shoes were too wide and the wheel cylinders looked different. Upon returning to the parts store, I had the counter guy check all of the part numbers against what the computer said and they all matched and appeared to be correct for my 84 Sierra Classic 1/2 ton 2 wheel drive.

I guess the parts guy had experienced this before so he looked up the brake parts I needed for an 1984 Silverado instead. Doing this gave him the option to choose between 11" x 2" or 11 5/32" x 2 3/4" brakes, mine were the 11" x 2". I am not sure why there were not 2 options available for my GMC truck like there was for a Silverado. I brought the new parts back home and everything matched up perfectly to my old parts.

Once I had all of the correct parts, everything went together pretty quickly. It took me about 2 hours to rebuild the right rear, not counting all of the time running around trying to get the correct parts (this was my first time rebuilding drum brakes so I worked slow to make sure it was right!). The left rear took me about 20 minutes from start to finish. Learning the correct order of parts installation from the right rear made things a lot easier to complete the left rear. A quick snap of a picture with my cell phone before disassembly helped a lot too.

Before doing all of this, my rear brakes would grab and the rear tires would lock up if I had to push the brake pedal very hard. Turns out that my wheel cylinders were leaking very badly and the insides of the cylinder were rusted and corroded very badly. The brake shoes did not look too bad considering they had never been changed.

All in all, I learned a lot and I am very glad I now have properly working brakes. The only real problem I had was not remembering if the long shoe went in the front or the back. Big thanks to Restrorob for chiming in to my post with a quick answer to let me know the long shoe went on the back on both sides.

This truck sat for 9 years before I bought it a couple of months ago and most every problem I have had with it has been due to it sitting for so long (dried out seals, gaskets etc...). I have had a couple of PM's by other members wanting to know what all I have done or what I recommend doing to a truck that has set for so long. I will start a new thread soon that lists everything I have done and what I still plan to do to make my truck dependable and road ready. Maybe it will help someone else out like so many people on this forum have helped me.

If anyone has any input on what they have done to make their daily drivers dependable, post it and I will organize it all into one thread that maybe we can get stickied or put into the FAQ section.

Thanks for all the help and input!

[Restrorob]

Glad to help 1425956,


I had the same issues with my 97, It sat for 7 yrs. Went through the back as you did along with replacing the rear brake hose and axle seals while it was apart.

The front was dragging so replaced both calipers and hoses, Had the rotors turned and installed new wheel bearings and seals just because I was there.

I had to do quite a bit more to make it road worthy/reliable again but this isn't the section to talk about my 97......

Everything on project 74 is new.

[CEE1NG_RED]

1425956...did the spring kit come with all springs? I got mine from NAPA and it does not seem complete. Maybe they sell individualized kits for sections of the brake shoe??? Mine did not come with the SA return spring nor SA override spring?? Also my 67 C10 shortbed did not come with a front strut in the front brake system.

BTW, is the short shoe rule apply for the front brakes - short shoe faces the rear and longer brake shoe faces the front bumper?

[Johnc10]

Originally Posted by 1425956

I am finally finished with my rear brake rebuild. This was my first time to work on brake drums and I must say it went better than expected. At first look when pulling the drum, all of the springs and levers seem to be a little overwhelming, but it really is a simple system that is effective when it is working properly.

I started with the right rear and kept the left rear in tact to use as a reference. My initial run to the parts store left me with a set of new new shoes, an all-in-one kit and 2 new wheel cylinders that were all wrong. The shoes were too wide and the wheel cylinders looked different. Upon returning to the parts store, I had the counter guy check all of the part numbers against what the computer said and they all matched and appeared to be correct for my 84 Sierra Classic 1/2 ton 2 wheel drive.

I guess the parts guy had experienced this before so he looked up the brake parts I needed for an 1984 Silverado instead. Doing this gave him the option to choose between 11" x 2" or 11 5/32" x 2 3/4" brakes, mine were the 11" x 2". I am not sure why there were not 2 options available for my GMC truck like there was for a Silverado. I brought the new parts back home and everything matched up perfectly to my old parts.

Once I had all of the correct parts, everything went together pretty quickly. It took me about 2 hours to rebuild the right rear, not counting all of the time running around trying to get the correct parts (this was my first time rebuilding drum brakes so I worked slow to make sure it was right!). The left rear took me about 20 minutes from start to finish. Learning the correct order of parts installation from the right rear made things a lot easier to complete the left rear. A quick snap of a picture with my cell phone before disassembly helped a lot too.

Before doing all of this, my rear brakes would grab and the rear tires would lock up if I had to push the brake pedal very hard. Turns out that my wheel cylinders were leaking very badly and the insides of the cylinder were rusted and corroded very badly. The brake shoes did not look too bad considering they had never been changed.

All in all, I learned a lot and I am very glad I now have properly working brakes. The only real problem I had was not remembering if the long shoe went in the front or the back. Big thanks to Restrorob for chiming in to my post with a quick answer to let me know the long shoe went on the back on both sides.

This truck sat for 9 years before I bought it a couple of months ago and most every problem I have had with it has been due to it sitting for so long (dried out seals, gaskets etc...). I have had a couple of PM's by other members wanting to know what all I have done or what I recommend doing to a truck that has set for so long. I will start a new thread soon that lists everything I have done and what I still plan to do to make my truck dependable and road ready. Maybe it will help someone else out like so many people on this forum have helped me.

If anyone has any input on what they have done to make their daily drivers dependable, post it and I will organize it all into one thread that maybe we can get stickied or put into the FAQ section.

Thanks for all the help and input!

I think we may be twins 0.o lol I had the exact same issue. I rebuilt my entire break system on the rear of my c10 back in January. Bought both wheel cylinders and brake shoes and hardware kit. Had to exchange everything except the hard ware kit. Other than that make sure you have good front breaks, I just replace everything on the front too and didn't have to return anything
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