THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

I bought 2 new drums and new brakes shoes to do the front axle on my 710. Once the shoes were in place I could not get the drum to go on, even with the adjusters all the way backed off. Using a dial caliper I found the shoes to have a bigger diameter than the drum. Under closer inspection, I discovered that I had the shoes on backwards! Doh! Once I reversed them the drums went on perfectly and needed only a minor adjustment. The brakes are work great now. The photos show the wrong way to install the shoes, although it is hard to see.
The stains on the floor are from brake cleaner, not brake fluid.

When did you decide to make the shovel face forward? I like that it doesn't fill up with dirt( same reason cave men dragged women by the hair instead of their feet).

Have you ever gotten any tire rub while wheeling?

Thanks for posting that information. I have new shoes to put on and did not think there was a wrong direction to install them.
Amazing what can be learned from others attempts. I was thinking of chamfering the leading edge a bit. My new shoes do not come
with the grooves that are on my original ones. Wonder if it will make a difference?

I ground grooves in mine with a 4 1/2" cutting wheel as I was doing allot of mudding and wanted the surface wiped by the groves.

From what I've heard/read/learned about brakes, the slots in the shoes and holes in brake disks are to ventilate the gasses that build up during hard braking - if there is no place for the gasses to go, they build up between the drum/rotor and the shoes/pads and reduce the braking force. I read about drilled drums here: http://www.chtopping.com/CustomRod4/ and have considered this, but haven't gotten any further on it yet. But drilled drums would certainly help get water/mud out better but also lets more in... hmmm.

A Google search brought up this explanation for slotted pads (there are many more, but state the same reasons). I'm sure the same applies for brake shoes-

-Significantly reduce pad bending when heated in normal braking conditions
-Reduce noise that can result from pads that have become concave
-Reduce brake fade by providing passage for gases and dust to escape at high brake temperatures

I have never seen slotted brake shoes except on a Pinzgauer. If you add up the braking surface area for the 4 wheels I think you will agree that the braking system is more than adequet under normal conditions and when not pulling a trailer.
I would never do anything to a drum that could potentially weaken it, such a drilling. I also remove all the drums on the Pinz once or twice a year and clean out all the dirt and dust with compressed air.

New Pinzgauer brake drums are 285 mm in diameter, the maximum allowed diameter is 287 mm.

Andre- I have the shovel facing forward due to modifications to the tailpipe. This was the only way it would fit.
The tires never rub. The first set lasted 10 years/22,000 miles and were the same size.

What size and model tires are you running?