I've put the new shoes on, all new hardware (springs, adjuster, etc.) and now the new drum won't go on over them. I've dialed down the adjuster as far as possible and I'm out of ideas. Have I shot myself in the foot by using "generic" parts from the local chain store? Anybody else ever have this problem?

 

Not to second guess you but my 94 lists 2 different size shoes & drums. ( not sure of the sizes) Make sure they gave you the right Drums or Shoes! Just measure your old ones.

 

Giving that there the right shoes, make sure u have the shoes propely placed in the wheel cyl. and make sure the bottoms of them are in right. Also if u miss placed a spring in the wrong spot then they will not go on propely. Double check ur spring placment and the proper seating of the shoes.

 

There are 9 x 1.75 and 10 X 2 As the man said check the old ones.

 

Ya, there's the 9" and 10" rear drums. Do like you do when squeeze the from calipers for new pads. Open the master cylinder and use some channel locks to squeeze the piston down.

 

All that stuff above PLUS be sure you emergency brake is not on or hanging up /mis-adjusted.

 

I was lucky on the size issue - I dragged the old drum to the parts store when I got the replacement.

Benaghetto, thank you, that sounds like it might do the trick. I made the same mistake the first time I changed pads on disk brakes, forgot to push the piston back, never occurred to me to do the same on the drums.

I'm working from the Haynes repair guide and haven't been reading the instructions too close because the rear drum in their example doesn't match mine; maybe I missed the instruction to squeeze the piston back down.

Which leads to another question, since I've had one or more problems like this with every Haynes manual I've used (four so far). What are the best and second best manuals for DIY Ranger repairs?

 

Get on ebay and see if you can get the shop manual on CD or the paper copy the best manual is the Ford shop manual.