I'm curious. Can you replace your brake shoes without replacing the drums or do they need to wear together?

 

It really isn't recommended to put the old drums on new shoes.

The shoes will not last as long or have the grip they should as they have to wear themselves in to match any grooves in the drum.

Drums can be resurfaced usually once,, but by the time you find a place that still cuts truck drums and pay to have it done, you will find that a new drum isn't really that much more.

 

For optimum brake life and performance the shops usually recommend changing them as a set. For my trailer I measure them, check for grooves and heat cracks and reuse them if they're ok. For my tractor I put new drums on with the shoes.

 

If the drum isnt cracked or grooved, you can usually get by with 1 drum for every 2 sets of brakes

But if you're doing severe duty work, Id just go ahead and do shoes and drums every time

 

Ok, thanks everyone for the answers. I'm not ready for brakes yet but wanted to know.

 

when installing new shoes, the drums must be at least 0.030" under the discard spec... i.e. - on a 16.5" drum (like we currently see on tractor drives and wagon wheels) the drum should not be beyond 16.590" for re-use.

this is a spec for the remaining friction surface.... obviously, you would also need to inspect the condition of the drum

 

When you do your brakes, I suggest doing EVERYTHING.

Brake hardware kit, s-cams, s-cam bushings, seals, wheel seal, maybe even bearings. They're cheap enough.

That way you know everything is good, and won't be pulling it apart 1-2 years later because your s-cam bushings are shot.

If slacks are fine, don't bother changing them. They're easy enough to change.

I did all my brakes for about $1500? Somewhere around there, maybe a little more. That's of course with my labor.

 

Allen or you talking truck and trailer? Do they both use the same type shoes and breaks.

 

truck.

Company owned trailers, never worked on them.

 

No the trailer uses a different drum and shoe, same basic design.

Most tractors use the same, for example I have Eaton rears and use Eaton brakes in my KW, since any truck can have an Eaton rear, they will use the same parts.