Brakes: New brake shoes longer than old ones?

[62STUDEGT]

I had a leaking rear left wheel cylinder on my 62 GT so I changed that and am changing the shoes as well. The new shoes are fom NAPA and are exaclty the same except the pad material is about 1/2" longer on each end. There are two different sizes but not by much.

Is this going to be a problem?

I also found one of the shoe retainer pins broken- do these serve a purpose other than holding the shoes in place when installing the drum?

Can someone tell me how to adjust the brakes once they are installed?

thank you

[63 R2 Hawk]

On drum brakes, the shorter lining always goes toward the front of the car. Because the shoes "float", the braking force tries to rotate both shoes in the same direction as the drum. The tops of the shoes are held in place by the cylinder, so the rear shoe tends to try and rotate into the drum harder. NAPA should have the needed pin, take an old one with you as there are many different lenghts.

[bezhawk]

On drum brakes, the shorter lining always goes toward the front of the car. Because the shoes "float", the braking force tries to rotate both shoes in the same direction as the drum. The tops of the shoes are held in place by the cylinder, so the rear shoe tends to try and rotate into the drum harder. NAPA should have the needed pin, take an old one with you as there are many different lenghts.

Unless it has bendix front disc brakes ....they were bass ackwards because of non self energizing, and higher booster pressures.
Normal drum brakes on Studebakers have a star wheel adjuster that ties the two shoes together at the bottom. This is why the shorter shoe goes on the front, as the force is transmitted to the second shoe by that link, and adds to the braking .
I usually run the star wheel in far enough to replace the drum easily.
once everything is together. use a brake adjusting spoon to tighten the shoes enough to prevent turning of the wheel. Then back off enough so that you can rotate wheel completely with slight drag heard.

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

Actually, the secondary shoes - the rear ones that take more of the braking force in conventional self-energizing brakes - can be one of three things - longer lining, thicker lining, or harder lining.

[StudeRich]

OK, to answer your question about the longer linings. The original Wagner Mfg. Primary (Forward) Shoes were quite short as you will see in the Pics in the Shop Manual. Over the years on orphan makes especially, the reliners have not been very true to the original design.

In the past I have gotten some from the cheaper suppliers not Studebaker Vendors, by mistake and the Primarys were identical to the Secondarys and I have seen them in all kinds of lengths, and suprisingly they seem to work OK.

I still believe however that right is RIGHT, no matter what anyone says, so I am sure there is some difference in performance, even if slight. So you are not alone Buddy.

Just be sure that IF there are two shoes that are a bit different like Darker color, that you use one of each on each side of the car, sometimes the edge of the lining will actually say: PRI & SEC. hopefully there will be two slightly shorter ones for the Forward side.

You REALLY DO need a Shop Manual, to explain many things.
The Bendix style, Star Wheel adjusted Brakes are quite easy to adjust and like most other makes with manual adjusted drum Brakes.
It is best done with the Wheels and Tires installed.