Rear brakes question

[liquidrush]

Are there different width rear brake shoes for swingaxle bugs? How do I know which ones are the correct ones?

[Scott SD]

Yes. Not exactly sure of the details, but I think 65 and earlier were 30mm and 67/68 were 40mm. Only way to know is to take it apart and measure.

[Vanapplebomb]

If there are four holes between 4:00 and 8:00 on the backing plate, it is a ‘68 or newer which use 40mm wide shoes. The two holes near the bottom of the backing plate are for brake shoe adjustment and the other two near 4:00 and 8:00 are for brake shoe inspection.

‘67 and older backing plates do not have these holes because the brakes are adjusted through a hole in the brake drum. These all have 30mm wide shoes.

Trick is, these days, anything could be swapped around. A ‘67 and older transmission may have been rebuilt with ‘68 and newer long spline swing axles which use the later drums, and the backing plates may have been swapped out for the newer style which uses the wide shoes for less brake fade and brake wear.