rear brake question

[weeble]

This is my first Chevy truck so Im not that familiar with them yet but Im hoping some of you who are can help.I have a 71 C10 custom. I had a rear wheel cylinder start leaking so when I went to replace it I noticed that the brake shoes are not completely in contact with the drum surface. About 1/2" of the inside of the shoe is not contacting the drum surface. It appears to have the correct shoes and the guy at the parts store said that the shoes should be 2" wide which they are. Do I possibly have the wrong drums or or my axles 1/2" too long? The truck has always braked good until the wheel cylinder went. Any help would be appreciated Thanks

[Longhorn Man]

your rear end looks to have been swapped out with a 67 - early 70 axle, and then they slid in the 71 axle shafts, which are 3/8 inch longer.
I would either locate a late 70 - 72 rear end, or get new axle shafts.

[airdale94]

They look like new shoes it could just be that they are still seating. Or shoe is cocked at a angle because of not corectly installed. Or the pads on the backing plate are worn. The small surface shoe should face to the front of the vehicle. Post a strait on pic of your brakes and I'll see if I see anything out of the ordinary.

[Bruce88]

This is not normal wear on the brake shoes
It’s hard to tell if the axel is sticking out to far from your picture. Went out and took a picture of my 72 rear brake with a tape measure that you could compare yours to and see if the axel spacing is right.
If the axel is right, it looks like the last time a brake job was done they just put some new brake shoes in and didn’t have the brake drums turned.
My suggestion is to have the drums turned if possible and a new set of shoes installed. If the drums can’t be turned because there isn’t enough metal left, replace the drums with new shoes. With new drums or rotors I always like to have them checked to make sure their true, some times the new castings can be out and its easer to check and correct the problem now than repair it later.

[Ackattack]

got a picture of the drums installed? Is there a gap between the drum and the backing plate? If memory serves me right, the drum should actually go over the backing plate (I don't have rear drums anymore....so this is from memory)

[Tx Firefighter]

Andy is right, someone has put the 5 lug axles which are longer (3/4 of an inch) into an earlier, narrower 6 lug rearend. The axles are simply too long.

[weeble]

Thanks for all the help and the info Its much appreciated! CPP sells a axle conversion kit for $329 which includes the correct length axles and brake drums for $329 so I think ill go that route.