Even though this answer is late, maybe it will help someone else out. I've been doing my own brakes for 50 years. Yes, I'm old. And yes, I've done a lot of brakes. I recently ran into this problem on a 1999 Cavalier. I literally took the new shoes off and put them back on 3 times, and the drum still wouldn't go on. Close, but no cigar. My best guess is the shoes are out of spec. Things I tried: using second set of shoes in set, trying old drum on (wouldn't fit either). The wheel cylinder was compressed, and the e brake hasn't been engaged in decades. The star wheel was all the way in, and everything was seated properly. I put the old shoes back on, and both drums slid on, no problem. The only variable left are the shoes. They look like the right shoes with all the holes in the right spots, but when I put them on, you could see they weren't seating like the old ones. The only thing I didn't check was the curvature of the shoes to see if they matched the old ones, but is evident that something was wrong, and it wasn't me or my installation. My best guess: the point of manufacturing. You can guess what country that was.
Mar 12, 2016 at 5:14 AM
