Series 3 Quick brake shoe question

A quick question about the width of brake shoes...

Both front and back drums are 10 inch diameter but are the shoes, therefor drums, wider at the back? Or will any set of shoes fit anywhere?

I believe same width all around.

If you want to upgrade your brakes you can fit 109 11inch brakes.

The problem is that I fitted new shoes all-round. Some came labelled as front, and others back, but they all looked the same so I fitted them willy-nilly.

I've got a problem now with one on the front. When I put the drum back on it seems fine until I tighten it on with the screws. Then it locks solid. Even when I slacken the snail right back, the feckin thing is sticky to the point that it gets very hot after a couple of miles.

I've had the bloody thing off and on a dozen times to try to see where it's going wrong, but i'm flummuxed.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to take them all off and re-assemble front and back as labelled. There might be some subtle difference but on the other hand there may not be. Not very helpful I know but it might be worth a try

Are the front on a swb twin leading shoe? Because there are two types of adjustment on the twin leading shoe set up. One on the snail cams that adjust the shoe closer the the drum and an adjuster (of sorts) that keeps the shoe level. If that adjustment is out the shoe could be at an Angle.

The swb front's not twin leading type unless modified by fitting 109 brakes.

I'm gonna take them all off and swap them around once I've measured them, although I'm pretty certain they're all the same sizes.

@tottot No, they've not been modified at all; just one leading and one trailing shoe, and one snail

solvista said:

I've got a problem now with one on the front. When I put the drum back on it seems fine until I tighten it on with the screws

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I'm pretty sure that has come up as a problem before, might have been on the general forum can't remember what it was put down to be due to but I think the person ended up just not putting the screws back on

May be worth taking a photo and posting it up, someone may notice something wrong.

honolulujoe said:

I'm pretty sure that has come up as a problem before, might have been on the general forum can't remember what it was put down to be due to but I think the person ended up just not putting the screws back on

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That was me!
Someone posted it could be to do with some shoes are a bit too wide.... I'm living with the problem for now....I'll end up buying some mintex ones, I'm sure they are the best you can buy ( I've read )

Edlandy said:

That was me!
Someone posted it could be to do with some shoes are a bit too wide.... I'm living with the problem for now....I'll end up buying some mintex ones, I'm sure they are the best you can buy ( I've read )

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knew I had seen it somewhere

I like mintex as the shoes are chamfered, always buy mine from dingocroft www.dingocroft.co.uk

honolulujoe said:

knew I had seen it somewhere

I like mintex as the shoes are chamfered, always buy mine from dingocroft www.dingocroft.co.uk

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That looks a good site, I've bookmarked it

LordOWar said:

May be worth taking a photo and posting it up, someone may notice something wrong.

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I've had a mate look at it and he can't see anything wrong. He's come to the same conclusion as below... thanks though.

Edlandy said:

That was me!
Someone posted it could be to do with some shoes are a bit too wide.... I'm living with the problem for now....I'll end up buying some mintex ones, I'm sure they are the best you can buy ( I've read )

Click to expand...

I've ignored it for a few days and today noticed that they are not getting hot at all. Maybe they were a bit wide and I've "run them in", or maybe I've warped the drum into shape

I've got plenty of other problems that have arisen today and become more urgent (like starting the fecking thing). So I'll worry more about the breaks when I don't have to park on a sodding hill.

solvista said:

A quick question about the width of brake shoes...

Both front and back drums are 10 inch diameter but are the shoes, therefor drums, wider at the back? Or will any set of shoes fit anywhere?

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From: http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/landRoverFAQ/FAQ_rearbrakes.htm

Brake configurations for different models
SII, SIIa 109
Front= 11" double leading shoe, w/two wheel cylinders
Back= 11" single leading shoe, single wheel cyl, same cylinder that is used up
front on all 88's up until 1980.

88's up until 1980
10" drums w/single leading shoe set up, front wheel cylinders same as rear
wheel cylinders on a 109. rear wheel cylinder is smaller (1")

88's after (june?) 1980
Front= 11" drums w/ double leading shoe set up, as standard on previous 109s
Rear= 10" single leading set up as was previously standard on all 88's

The dual master cylinder and I believe the servos as well were not standard in the UK until quite some time after they were introduced over here in NA.

Also I should state that the 109's were mostly 11x2" drums except for six cylinder versions and the SIII Stage One 109 V8s which came with 11x3" drums.

So if you have your original axels and were given the right parts, you should be ok.

Yeah, I think it's just cheap parts being a little big, or off-set, or something. I'm going to have them all off and swapped around a bit. Maybe swap the drums around first to see what happens.

solvista said:

Yeah, I think it's just cheap parts being a little big, or off-set, or something. I'm going to have them all off and swapped around a bit. Maybe swap the drums around first to see what happens.

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Hi There, same problem for me 6 years later. Brake rebuild with cheap parts, all good until nipping up drum screws and then drum seizes up solid. Is the conclusion by more expensive brake shoes or is it a simple installation error that I am doing?

OK guys, after an afternoon of chamfering and dressing a critical component on the braking system, I took a good look in the mirror, and bought a new set of Mintex shoes. One week later they went on in double quick time after all the practice I had with the cheap ones and fitted perfectly. buy cheap buy twice

What was the critical component and what was the problem with it?
Chamfering the leading edge certainly helps snatchy brakes

Just this week finished brake rebuild on an S2 using Britpart complete kit...worked a treat no problems BUT can see where you can go wrong and fit incorrectly...any pics of what you did?...