Ok, so I replaced the shoes on my 74 power wagon yesterday. Waiting on wheel seals so I can repack and reassemble the hubs.

I took pictures of the brakes before I pulled them apart.

I put them together how they came off. I know there is a leading shoe and a trailing shoe. Longer shoe goes on the front (Edit:rear) But looking at both sides, they look identical (longer shoe on right). But here's the tricky part. Both shoes are the same length, but one is lower. It only looks longer. I know I'm not explainin it correctly, and it's not letting me post a pic. I'll crop and try again.

Old shoes on passenger frontm

New shoes on passenger front

Brake shoes are like mullet. Long in the back and short in front. The length is the pad material not the metal.

New drivers front. I guess I didn't take pics pre teardown. But I know for a fact I laid them on the ground under the truck the way they came off. That is absolute.



So what is right? Drivers or passenger?

But both material is the same length, just one side material is slid down. Lined up side by side you can tell they're the same length, just one is moved. If you look at the bottom of the pics you can see how the friction material on one shoe covers an indent that the other shoe does not, and at the top, there is more space between the friction material and the end of the shoe.

In my opinion those are not made right. There is a definite noticeable difference in every set of shoes I have ever seen. I haven't worked on a 4x4 in a while so I may be mistaken.

In my opinion those are not made right. There is a definite noticeable difference in every set of shoes I have ever seen. I haven't worked on a 4x4 in a while so I may be mistaken.

Are all 4 of your shoes the same? Any I have ever seen (I was brake certified for 20 years.) definitely have one shoe with longer lining then the other shoe. The shoe with the longest lining goes on the rear most side. The brakes pictured in post 1956487 is the passenger (front) side of the truck. The shoe placement would be the same on the passenger side rear.

I have received boxes of brake shoes from parts stores that contained 4 identical shoes before, I presumed someone swapped out the shoes thinking all 4 had to be the same. I've always returned them to get the correct brake shoes. Longer lining on the rear shoes, shorter lining on the front shoes, each corner, all the time. Gene

The procedure about the longest lining going on the rear: Isn't this a matter for REAR brakes only due to the fact that the parking brake is attached to the rear shoe?

unless you are running circle track then you run the 2 long on the left and the 2 short on the right.......just teasing....

Applies to the front also.

Yep, what he said! Long lining on the rear most shoe, short lining on the forward shoe, each wheel, all 4 corners the same set up. Always! Gene