Proline Rear Brake Shoes - Beware

[jac04]

When I rebuilt my Lightweight, I installed all new parts in my brake system from our hosts. However, whenever I went to roll the Rover backwards in the garage, the rear brakes would always bind. After putting 1600 miles on the vehicle, I finally decided to figure out what was going on. I removed the rear brakes and found this:


The leading shoe is on the right side in each pair. Rotten Proline brake shoes! They aren't even close to the right contour. Too bad I purchased them about 2 years ago or I'd send them back. I just installed a set of Mintex shoes which should remedy the problem.

So, don't learn the hard way like me. Spend the extra $$ when it comes to brake shoes.

[rejeep]

were your drums turned?
contact pattern seems odd..

but a few days with new shoes should tell you something.

[Jim-ME]

I hate to say this but I had problems with Mintex shoes as well.
Jim

[Terrys]

brakes are for kids.

[jac04]

were your drums turned?

Drums were brand new.

contact pattern seems odd.

Well, yeah, i guess that's my point.
If the drums were significantly oversized, I would expect to see no contact at the bottoms of the shoes, and heavy localized contact at the top. From the looks of the contact, the radius of the shoes is larger than that of the drums.

brakes are for kids.

I noticed that. When my 5 year old daughter drives, she's always using the brakes. I figured I should get them working properly for her.

[artpeck]

I had something very similar to what you described after replacing the brake shoes with mintex. They would drag and bind regardless of the adjuster being backed all the way off and even a short drive would leave them smoking and the wheel hot. I pulled the drum last weekend and replaced the springs and they now work perfectly despite the fact that there was nothing visibly wrong with the springs.

[Broadstone]

I had the same problem. I would not recommend the wheel cylinders either. Go original.

[Firemanshort]

Unless the shoes are W-A-Y out of shape.... wouldn't they wear into the shap of the drums?

[jac04]

I'm sure they would ... eventually.

[Crash]

I had this same issue last year. The drum would not sit properly on the assembly as a result of oversize shoes. I was not able to accurately measure the drum to see if it was undersize but the shoes were replaced with Mintex and even then it took several tries to find a set that would allow the drum to mount properly.

It would seem that our freinds on the SII forum have had similar problems with fitment and if it goes together uneven wear on the shoes.

Clearly their is an issue that existing Q/C is not catching.

C

[tmckeon88]

I also had a problem this summer of new Proline shoes not fitting well - they were dragging even with the adjuster backed out. I had one drum turned and that eventually remedied the problem. The up side is I have good brakes now for the first time in long time. They pull bit, but you get a little something the moment you touch the pedal.

Tom

[bkreutz]

Back when drum brakes were the standard brakes, part of a brake job was to "arc" the new shoes to match the drum. I haven't seen an "arcing" machine for more years than I can remember. I do know of a local shop that specializes in relining antique brake shoes and part of the service is grinding the new shoes to match the drums, he's a one man shop and being the only one in the Seattle area he's backlogged for many weeks (maybe months). You might try looking around in your area and see if there is a similar shop in your area.