1982 F-150 Rear Brake Job - Sanity Check

Started digging into a rear brake refresh on an '82 F-150 with (AFAIK) a 9" rear; admittedly the first time I've messed with drum brakes beyond old dirt bikes. Got new drums, shoes, hardware, wheel cylinders & link pins from Rock Auto and everything appears to match the dimensions & configuration of the old setup. I wire wheeled and brake cleaned all of the mating surfaces before installing the new components. My main concern is that the shoes don't seem to want to rest on the anchor pin; there's about a 1/4-1/2" gap from the top contact point of the shoes. The parking brake is released, adjuster is fully closed/shortened, the wheel cylinder doesn't have any fluid pressure (line is disconnected) and the links can be retracted into the cylinder fine. The drum seems like it will go on but it's a tight fit the way the shoes are sitting now.

My other concern is that the forward link seems to be pushed up by the primary shoe and is not riding parallel to the wheel cylinder. I noticed this on the old components as well but at least the shoes seemed to sit on the anchor pin before. Just want to make sure I'm not missing something obvious. Here are photos for reference (excuse the brake grease; I didn't wipe of the excess before taking these):

Old:



New:



- EJ

Drum brakes are indeed tricky vs discs. The shoes don't settle in real nice when you first assemble them but once you get the drum on they kind of settle better. The drums are generally very tight as well but should be able to install them.

A helpful soul pointed out that the parking brake link bar spring is compressed. After checking the cable movement, I realized that this side is completely seized in a partially engaged position - mystery solved.

Great news! Glad you trusted your instincts and realized things didn't look correct.

Good catch!!

definitely a 9"axle.  if you discovered a seized cable it a real good idea to replace them both. do them in prs like you would the brake shoes themselves .

Looking at your new pics, I see a lot of grease on the parts. What grease is that? Might be a bit much, but I can't tell. I would hate for it to glob off and gum up your shoes.

Not an expert or saying that you are doing anything wrong...just a question.

For sure - I made a mess with the brake grease and didn't wipe down the excess before taking those pics.

It's Permatex EXTREME in the purple bottle: