I am replacing all four brakes on my 92 RS (front disk, rear drum). The fronts were easy but the rear drums are not. I replaced the wheel cylinder, shoes, springs and all the associated hardware including new drums. The driver side went smoothly and all aligned just fine. The passenger side is a total mess. The shoes do not touch the upper pivot point. They are out about 1/4" and because of that I am assuming that the drum cannot be installed. I tried hammering the drum onto the shoes but it only goes about half way and then stops. Hammering the shoes just moves one shoe closer to the upper pivot point but then pushes the other one out. I took the whole brake apart and put it back again but the same problem persists.

Any ideas? This is the last piece that prevents me from actually getting the car on the road after it has been sitting for 10+ years.

 

That drum crap has been around since like the 1940s. (except they added self-adjustment in the 50s) Not particularly difficult. Your grandparents did it every few thousand miles since brake friction was so crappy back then. 80 years now or more.

About the only possible reason they won't go together is, something is assembled wrong. Hard to just randomly "guess" what that might be.

Post up a pic and maybe we can help.

 

This is rear passenger side. It is a bit hard to tell from the photos but the top of the shoes don't really touch the pivot point. Also, the left shoe (as pictured) has enough clearance but the right one is closer to the outer edge of the backing plate.

 

Is the edge of the forward shoe resting on the ridge of the backing plate? Pull the shoe towards you just a bit and see if it doesn't spring into place

 

Is the horizontal bar with the yellow spring holding the shoes apart? That may be on backwards.

 

Parking brake link doesn't look like it's on there right. The PB might even be partway set.

 

Thanks for the replies. Today, I found an hour of rain free time to take a look at the brakes. I had to crawl under the car to check the parking brake cables. The passenger side doesn't move. I guess that is the culprit. I will try to disassemble the brakes again and see if I can pull the cable to free it up. Otherwise, I may need to keep this side disconnected for now. Don't see that I could replace the cable easily without dropping the drive shaft.

 

So it was the parking brake cable. The passenger side was sticking. I think the part of the cable that goes right next to the exhaust was the culprit. Most likely the plastic outer shield melted and fused the cable that runs inside. I had to remove it as I wasn't able to pull the cable to free it up. It was stuck there pretty hard. Once the cable was out, the shoes (with no parking brake) went in as they should and I was able to install the drum. For now, I have only the driver side parking brake but first of all my driveway is flat and second, the car doesn't run anyway. :-)