Rear brake shoe install help needed

[printner]

Installing the rear brakes today. I think I have them correct, but the pad labelled "Fore" is actually at the back and the one labelled "After" is in the front. Because of the rectangular hole, I believe this has to be correct. Can anyone confirm?

Thanks!

brakes.JPG

[theunz]

If those shoes were on the other side of the car would that correct the orientation?

[Doggggboy]

On most older cars the short shoe goes at the front of the drum, the larger one goes at the back, if I remember correctly.

[theunz]

Interestingly enough,the friction area of both of those shoes seem to be the same.

[Doggggboy]

Well then, I'll just go back to reading my book and drinking my wine.
That was all I had.
If the other side is still assembled you could compare and contrast.
You're sure you don't have two back pads on the same side? One pad is usually smaller than the other but looking at Datsunparts.com pictures of pads they DO seem indentical. Is one pad thicker maybe?
I'm totally clutching at straws now.

[The Neck]

I think the rear one with the square notch is correct, but the one on the front or the left in the pic, needs to be flipped upside down.

I'm basing this off of having just did mine, and I believe this flip will give a more uniform pad surface area with a much smaller gap in pad along the bottom as seen in that pic.

[nismou20]

Yours are mounted the (other way). It will work but not as efficient as having the shoes exactly 180 degrees apart. You will notice that the gaps between the shoes are different. Notice top left at adjuster the shoes are closer than bottom right where the shoes are spread wider apart. Yes, one has to be flipped.

[dynaguy]

Hi Tim,

I just installed shoes on my '66. Took before pic, orientated shoes the same as what I took off. I used 510 shoes, but pads are the same as originals. That said, your front shoe needs to be flipped, as others have stated.
Hope this helps,
Pat

[printner]

Thanks all. Pat, did you use the 510 part number in the tech wiki???

I had been using this as a guide, and it just didn't seem right:

brakes.jpg

[dynaguy]

That pic doesn't jive with my before pic of original shoes. I went with how the "pad" material was orientated on the metal shoe to get the friction area the same as OEM ones. The shoes have the pad material in different locations, though the metal part appears to be identical. Took me awhile to wrap my head around why one side was different than the other side even though I had the square openings down by the wheel cylinder. Which is how they should be.
I had misgivings about buying the shoes through an auto parts outlet, so I purchased from one of our vendors.

Hope this helps.
Pat