MTFCA Forum

I discovered that the left rear brake on my car does not contact the drum. I adjusted the rod as far as I could to no avail. I took the wheel off to inspect the brake shoes. I couldn’t see anything wrong but I don’t know what I should expect. The shoes have no lining which I believe is normal. Does anyone have experience with lined shoes? Would a new set of standard unlined shoes solve the problem?

You may have a combination of worn shoes, worn cam and worn brake drum. New cams are available, new lined brake shoes are available, but I believe new drums are no longer available. You can fit a sleeve over the cam to help wear at that point. A worn one piece cast iron shoe is more likely to break if it has to be expanded into a worn drum. While you are at it, check fro loss of travel in the rods due to worn clevises and levers at the rear.

Allan from down under.

Could be the cam is so worn it cannot expand the shoe to grip inside the drum or the bushing of the cam is worn and won't let the cam fully lift. Replace cam bushing and the cam.

An old time fix is a sleeve to go over the cam. Have used these sleeves avail from Lang's and it works ok, needs a little grinding on the O.D. to get good fit.


When testing, be sure the brake cam can lift the shoe, test by removing the clevis and pulling forward on the lever to check. Any wobble means worn bushing or cam. Pulling lever rearward will release the shoe as cam is now level or parallel with the axle shaft. The iron shoe could also be worn down and the drum may have worn more thin.

One fix is the new lined shoes.


Lined brake shoe.

Birdhaven has brake drums for sale. I just bought 2 last month.

Since posting this I have learned that the brake shoe is one piece, not two line modern drum brakes. Therefore my problem is that the brake shoe is broken because when I took the wheel off I noted that there were two separate pieces.

Blair, broken cast iron shoes are common. Cast iron does not take flexing very well before it breaks. Expanding a worn shoe in an equally worn drum flexes it even more. With luck, it will break at the pivot point bolt and the two return springs will hold the pieces in place and the brakes will continue to work. They often break elsewhere and then you have instant problems.
When I fit the new lined one piece brake shoes I put a hacksaw cut half way through the casting at the pivot point hole. This provides a weak point which will cause the shoes to break there, but the return springs will hold them in place for continued use if they do break. Be sure to fit the return springs with the open end outwards so they will tend to keep the shoes against the backing plate.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

I have lined shoes on all of my cars. It's the only way to go.