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Took the drums off the other day to look at the brake shoes. I realize it is normal to have the leading shoe wear faster than the trailing shoe and that is what I have here. If the leading shoe had the same amount of material left as the trailing shoe does I would continue running them but the leading shoe is getting thin. So I got to thinking, and here's my question....has anyone here ever swapped out the leading shoe with the trailing shoe? I mean, if the wear pattern is the usual then I should be able to get many more miles out of these stockers. Know what I mean?

 
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Set of shoes is like $20. If I'm going to do all that work and dick around with drum brakes, I'm putting new ones in. With a new hardware kit.

 
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Really? No big deal here. Easy job. I don't feel like I'm dicking around when I work. Sounds like you should pay someone to work on your stuff if drum brakes are that difficult for you.
You're so smart you couldn't answer the question 🤷‍♂️

 
Rep Power: 222

I do all of my own work, short of installing/balancing tires, and alignments because i don't have the equipment. My time is more valuable than reusing a set of $20 brake shoes. I did answer your question, you're just too dense to read between the lines...

 
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No you didn't. All you did was reply about yourself. You did NOTHING to answer the OP's question. Then you insult the person.

 
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Everyone calm down.

Swap the shoes if you'd like. I would think they should be wearing equally between the two but it's your decision to replace or just swap. I have never heard of anyone doing this before, you could be our tester

@Colin42 does have a point though. I have done engine transplants, replaced synchros in transmissions, re-ringed a couple engines, a dozen head gaskets, countless timing belts/chains and I still dislike drum brakes. I would pay $20 extra to avoid taking them apart a second time.

 
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It's normal just like you said to have the front shoe material wear faster. A couple years ago I had the same situation. There was so much material left on the rear shoe I decided to try it out. One person told me it wouldn't work because they claimed the drum would lock up which didn't make sense to me because the parts are not totally fixated to a dead spot but they are meant to move around on the contact points. So I gave it a shot. I got around 50k more out of them instead of tossing them in the trash. Why toss money in the trash? Especially if ya have a family to take care of. IIRC the front shoe gets worn the most on the bottom, so you'll just flip that one right over with the other one. You'll be fine 👍😎👍

 
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No. No one has done that because they are so cheap and who wants to do it again. But sure you can give it a try and report back what you find.

 
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I done it and got about 50k more out of them. I do tire rotation every oil change at 7500 so my wheels are off roughly 6 times within that 50k. Worked fine for me to each their own.

 
Rep Power: 244

If the extra 50k miles is worth it to you then great. I’ll put new ones on and go 100k so I don’t have to do them again.