I know this has been beat to death but ever since i changed my rear brakes on my 94 f150, they have been randomly dragging and partially locking up. Yesterday my ABS light came on and my rear brakes were fully locked up.
Removed drums to inspect and make sure primary shoes were in the correct spot,which they are.
However the shoes are off centered if using the axle shaft as a center point. The drums have to be installed at an angle which causes one shoe to rub the drum even when the adjuster is fully backed out.
I have done brakes countless times but this has be stumped!!! Maybe i have a spring backwards? Maybe my backing plates were swapped somewhere down the line?

 

It looks like you have the primary and secondary shoes on correctly (assuming they are the right shoes for the truck), the springs look ok, but I'm wondering about those drums (since they got super heated and may be out of round now --not concentric to the brake linings/shoes).......a quick check is to measure across in at least three places

 

I will meassure but i dont think that is my problem. The primary shoe to the outside edge of the backing plate is about .5". The secondary to the outer edge is aboug 1". They are not centered. So even of the drum was perfect, it would fit.
Can anyone chime in who has seen this or had this problem?

 

Just messured drums and they are in spec. Took another messurement. From outer axle flange to outer primary shoe is 2 1/8". From outer axle flange to outer secondary shoe is 1 3/4".
Assuming i have the wrong shoes, what other vehicle options would have the same exact mounting holes?!?!

 

Man that spacing is off by a mile -- what's the part number on the shoes?

 

I went back to part store and looked up #582. They were slightly different than the shoes I had although they were the same part number. I swapped them out but my problem is still there!!! Its way far off centered and dragging the drum really bad. Im positive the hardware is laid out correctly. Anyone else have any ideas? Kills me when such a small jobs turns into such a headache!

 

What size drums do you have, 2.5" wide or 3"? I'm thinking maybe you have wide shoes with a narrow drum...

It sounds like you know about it but the leading shoe should have less friction material on it.. hard to tell from the pics but when compared side by side it's pretty obvious.

 

didn't start till you installed shoes?check wheel cylinders free? ebrake cables free?sand shoes ,dont over adjust and road test.better? Take shoes back,too much metal content.Did you test abs to retrieve code.light may have to be on when codes pulled.

 

as conanski pointed out, you are clearly aware of the difference between primary and secondary shoes, and it IS hard to tell from pics, but every time i look at that last pic, i see 2 shoes with the same length of lining ... ?

 

All of that trouble and it was my parking brake cable. I havent used it since owning the truck. However, yesterday after getting pissed at this simple task that should have been a quick repair, i removed the parking brake cable and the brakes were fixed. I then removed it all again and pulled the living mess out of the cables to try and gain 1/4"+ of needed slack. Reinstalled and the problem returned.
Not sure how the cable can fail in the tension position but it definately has. Pedal assembly and cable along the frame appear to be fine!

 

Stuck park brake cables are extremely common on automatic trans trucks because they are rarely used, and it seems the rear cable to the passenger side goes more often than the one to the drivers side or the main cable to the front. I have replaced some of these cables (for safety inspection) on every Ford truck I have ever purchased.

 

Just looking at the pictures, it looks like the shoes are in backwards. The shorter needs to go to the front and the longer to the rear.