Drums won't fit over shoes

i r teh noobz · May 3rd, 2008, 03:35 PM

I changed out my drums, springs, wheel cylinders, and shoes on my '93 XE, but I can't get the drums to fit over the shoes properly. They fit, but are very tight and have to be forced on. The shoes are adjusted all the way down and the e-brake doesn't appear to be on at all. Any ideas?

greenbean699 · May 3rd, 2008, 08:24 PM

i've had this problem before, make sure the wheel cylinders are air free and the brakes are fit in the right spot. if not they will be in a bind and will make it hard to put the drums on.

HATEnFATE · May 6th, 2008, 02:35 PM

You need to turn back the adjusters so it pulls the shoes inward enough to put the drums on.

i r teh noobz · May 7th, 2008, 09:33 PM

The shoes were adjusted all the way in while I was having this problem. I guess everything wasn't lined up just right. I gave the drums a few whacks with a hammer and everything fell into place and works fine.

sunnysentra · May 20th, 2008, 09:56 AM

Uh, the old drums! I remember when I had those damn things! I hated replacing the shoes. all those springs and adjusters. Suprising, Nissan had one of the only good setups that adjusted the shoes. Toyota and alot of USA cars E-brakes never worked well with adjusters. The bigest Pita is the old hardbody trucks D21 4 cyl and frontiers with drums. But the E-brakes always worked. can't say the same thing of my Titan! they never work right!

Chris 92 classic

macoombi · Aug 18th, 2008, 04:55 PM

Old post i know but I thought I'd add my 2 cents for future references.

I ran into the same problem a while ago. I assumed that all four shoes were the same. If you look closely there's a slight difference between the leading and trailing shoe. If you mix them up you might have trouble getting the drum over the shoes.