Dana 60 Brake Shoe Question

[SavageC20]

I am replacing the brake shoes on a dana 60 axle out of a 1970 c20. The last guy that did the brakes had both primary shoes on one side and both secondaries on the other.

I got a new net of shoes from Napa but the friction material is the same length on both sides just positioned differently. I am not sure which one would be considered the primary shoe. Did they make these new shoes incorrectly?

[racerop]

I would put the higher liner to the back and the lower to the front.

I think the shoes grabs and sucks the shoe from the 6 - 8 o'clock position
in towards the drum

Probably wrong but if it doesn't work reverse it , sorry best guesses aren't
great

Another site I referenced says this"

You are correct, the shorter shoe should be forward on electric brake assemblies like the 12 inch Electric Brake Assembly, # 23-105, that your selected. In my experience, the shorter shoe is always the shoe that is pressed against the drum first, and the leverage from that connection is used the activate the longer shoe. brakes are engineered in this way to provide smooth braking performance.

[PepperTreeGarage]

Higher/longer liner towards rear. Lower/shorter liner towards front. First pic passenger side, second pic driver side on our '72 C20 with DANA 60. Hope it helps.

[Steeveedee]

I would take them back and find a set of shoes with the proper length on the secondary shoe. The factory made them that way for a reason. The primary shoe forces all the mechanicals to rotate the shoes into the anchor bolt, which is a positive stop. The secondary shoe should be fully lined. Interestingly enough, when I bought my brake shoes from NAPA, all four shoes were fully lined like I expect the secondary shoes to be. Strange. I have a D60 in my '70 C20, as well.

[RichardJ]

I ran into the same problem last year.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...oe#post8496054

As I explained in my post, every place I checked at the time had a variation of Napa's 419 part number.

I do have front disc brakes on my '67 and the short linings don't seem to represent a problem in normal driving.
One thing I noticed right away and the problem still persists is that the e-brake does not hold as well when parked on a hill. I have to apply the e-brake extra firm or it will roll back. Parking down-hill is OK.

Steevee keeps insisting his Napa brakes were full length. I suspect that when he bought his, the Napa store had old stock on its shelf.

Edit;
Peppertree, where did you get those shoes and how old are the pictures?
Those are the 2 1/2" x 12" shoes?

[Steeveedee]

FWIW those shoes I bought replaced shoes that were the same long length lining on both primary and secondary shoes, and I put those shoes on the truck when it belonged to my FiL, must be 25 years ago. Wrong then, wrong now, in my book. It should have been less lining on the front shoes.

[SavageC20]

Originally Posted by PepperTreeGarage

Higher/longer liner towards rear. Lower/shorter liner towards front. First pic passenger side, second pic driver side on our '72 C20 with DANA 60. Hope it helps.

Thank you for the pictures, these will help a lot. I am just going to use the shoes that I got and see how it works out.

[KevinK7]

My 68 has what I believe to be a Dana60 rear (photo below) and I was going to ask if there is a way to know if the shoes are 12x2 or 12x2.5 without opening things up. The more I read, the less it seems possible until you take it apart.
With that said, I am about to place an order from Rock Auto (screenshot below) and hope I ordered the right parts ; )

[DA71Grande]

These were the ones I got from Napa 12x2.5

[toolboxchev]

Originally Posted by SavageC20

I am replacing the brake shoes on a dana 60 axle out of a 1970 c20. The last guy that did the brakes had both primary shoes on one side and both secondaries on the other.

I got a new net of shoes from Napa but the friction material is the same length on both sides just positioned differently. I am not sure which one would be considered the primary shoe. Did they make these new shoes incorrectly?

No but Yes is the answer in short. I had a set of those, they cracked I took them back for a full refund. The Primary is the one with the friction material mounted higher in position relative to the half round mount for the pin next to the wheel cylinder.

I bought some shoes from Advance which is their WearEver brand. They had more length in friction material on them. I have a Dana 60 with leaf springs and 12 inch drums.

Hope this helps.