Uneven Brake Shoe Wear?

Hey all, I got a quick question. Just put on some new pads and rotors, and then I pulled the drums off to manually adjust them. I also tightened the parking brake cable to take the slack out, so hopefully the shows will now self adjust when I use the PB. Pedal feels great now, and I feel as if the truck is stopping as it should. However, I did notice that there was some uneven wear on the front most shoe. You can see that the upper part still looks like it has some meat left, but the bottom looks considerably thinner. I think I remember hearing that this is normal, but I am not too sure. Just wanted some clarification from some of you brake experts, since I’m not as familiar with drum brakes. Which shoe(s) should I judge for overall wear, since one seems to have more meat than the other? Are these shoes considered worn out, and should they be replaced soon? I don’t have any record from the previous owner of the shoes being replaced, and the drums looks original so I would assume it’s all factory. The truck has around 107k miles. Although this picture was taken a few months back, my recent brake job reminded me of it. I would appreciate anyone’s feedback. Thanks!


***Sorry about the shadowy pic, hopefully it’s still somewhat visible

 

Not unusual. Mine lasted to 230k, but I hardly use the brakes and I don't abuse my truck racing from light to light.

Now that I can see that on my computer instead of my phone, you definitely need new shoes.

 

Sorry, I really can't tell from the pic,

But in general, shoes, and pads for that matter usually do end up uneven near the second half of their life.

Spec for shoe thickness is 6mm standard to 1mm minimum so that should give you an idea where you are in their life.Yours look like 2-3?.

 

Yeah, I'd have to imagine it would be something I'd have to plan for down the road. I'd ideally like to wait until it warms back up a bit nearing springtime, so hopefully they'll be fine until then. Nothing like working on the truck in the bitter cold and you can hardly feel your hands haha

 

Tell me about it, I had to replace my fuel pump a couple weeks ago in the snow.

 

Ouch! Kinda funny that the fuel pump decided to give up this time of year.... Was that your original at 320k miles? If so, that seems super impressive for a fuel pump... Did you end up dropping the tank or just remove the bed like some others seem to have done?

 

If you do plan to wait. Try not to engage the brakes hard until that time. That way most of the braking will be on the front disks instead. Worst thing you can do is gouge the drums up with metal on metal and have to replace them.

 

I had to drop the tank. On an access cab the tank access is under the cab so taking the bed off doesn't help. To my knowledge it was an original pump but I am not the original owner, it could have been an OEM replacement.

One thing nice about the snow....it a least it was could enough to be frozen. If it went out a couple weeks earlier I would have been laying in mud.

 

Makes sense. I usually try to glide to a stop when I can, unless there is some scenario when heavy braking is necessary. Definitely wouldn't want to gouge the drums up though. Aren't they good for ~200k miles or so, provided the braking surface is still intact? So should be good for another set of shoes if mine are presumably original?

 

Drums are not particularly expensive. I always replace drums and rotors when I replace pads.

 

Agree. Rotors with pads, drums with shoes. Just the right way to do it, especially here in the rust belt.

 

Definitely makes sense for sure. Here in the rust belt them rotors will rust to pieces. I saw drums for like 40-50 a piece on Rock Auto, so I’m thinking I might just do them too…