brake shoes - different lining thicknesses?

[carlukepeugeot]

Hi all,

Have a new set of rear brake shoes for the 306 (no abs) and noticed that the thickness of the linings is different between the shoe with the handbrake lever on it (rearmost one) and the 'leading' shoe. Handbrake shoe the lining is probably half the thickness of the leading shoe. Is this normal? I can't think of any operational reason why this would be like this?

Just wondering what your thoughts are. 

Cheers
Craig

edit: googled it a bit and apparently the leading shoe does the most work as the rotation of the drum forces the shoe into the drum while the trailing shoe is 'pulled away' from the drum (or something like that). Still, I have never seen shoes that take that into account. Usually the same thickness as far as I recall!

[daddyfixit]

quite common, fords used it on the escort/orions back in 84 onwards. as you have discovered, the leading shoe gets dragged into contact with rotating drum (called self-servo effect) and does most of the work. The trailing shoe doesnt wear as much as the drum surfac is effectively sliding over its leading edge...stopping it from "digging in" and also not wearing it out. in reverse gear the roles are reversed and trailing shoe now becomes leading shoe and it does "dig in" and do the work.