arcing brake shoes

Posted by Mark Graber On 2019/4/28 17:57:35

First time doing a brake job and wondering about arcing the shoes. I've read that the shoes should make contact at their center first, and then the shoe flexes to make full contact at both ends of the shoe. That tells me that the arc of the shoe results in a smaller circle than the drum.

When I hold one end of a new shoe against the drum, there is a resulting gap of .035-.040 at the other end of the shoe. Is that acceptable such that the shoe will wear in? I've read about a method of using sandpaper adhered to the inside of the drum and sanding the shoe accordingly. Don't want to try this unless I have to.

What do you guys think? Thanks, Mark