[Glenn Brooks]

For the life of me, I can't find the 15.5" X 7" shoes for the front brakes. I may have to upgrade to the 16 1/2" drums and shoes and was wondering if anybody has done the switch? I'm primarily interested in what it cost, sourcing of parts and the degree of difficulty. I found a guy in Florida who will fabricate the linings and bond and rivet them to the shoes. The cost is $185 p/shoe X 4 plus $180 shipping each way. It is almost a thousand dollars to get the remanufactured shoes. I was thinking the upgrade may be a little more, but may be worth it. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

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For the life of me, I can't find the 15.5" X 7" shoes for the front brakes. I may have to upgrade to the 16 1/2" drums and shoes and was wondering if anybody has done the switch? I'm primarily interested in what it cost, sourcing of parts and the degree of difficulty. I found a guy in Florida who will fabricate the linings and bond and rivet them to the shoes. The cost is $185 p/shoe X 4 plus $180 shipping each way. It is almost a thousand dollars to get the remanufactured shoes. I was thinking the upgrade may be a little more, but may be worth it. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Are you sure they are 15.5" shoes? That is an odd size. Do you have the number off your existing drum?

[Glenn Brooks]

For the life of me, I can't find the 15.5" X 7" shoes for the front brakes. I may have to upgrade to the 16 1/2" drums and shoes and was wondering if anybody has done the switch? I'm primarily interested in what it cost, sourcing of parts and the degree of difficulty. I found a guy in Florida who will fabricate the linings and bond and rivet them to the shoes. The cost is $185 p/shoe X 4 plus $180 shipping each way. It is almost a thousand dollars to get the remanufactured shoes. I was thinking the upgrade may be a little more, but may be worth it. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Are you sure they are 15.5" shoes? That is an odd size. Do you have the number off your existing drum?

I couldn't find any numbers on the drums or the shoes. The drums measure 15.5 inches across.

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For the life of me, I can't find the 15.5" X 7" shoes for the front brakes. I may have to upgrade to the 16 1/2" drums and shoes and was wondering if anybody has done the switch? I'm primarily interested in what it cost, sourcing of parts and the degree of difficulty. I found a guy in Florida who will fabricate the linings and bond and rivet them to the shoes. The cost is $185 p/shoe X 4 plus $180 shipping each way. It is almost a thousand dollars to get the remanufactured shoes. I was thinking the upgrade may be a little more, but may be worth it. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Are you sure they are 15.5" shoes? That is an odd size. Do you have the number off your existing drum?

I couldn't find any numbers on the drums or the shoes. The drums measure 15.5 inches across.

Hmm interesting, I will take a look when I get home at my Webb catalog and see what I can find. Perhaps it’s European, seems like Newell likes to use stuff from Europe. My independent front suspension is Dana UK.

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For the life of me, I can't find the 15.5" X 7" shoes for the front brakes. I may have to upgrade to the 16 1/2" drums and shoes and was wondering if anybody has done the switch? I'm primarily interested in what it cost, sourcing of parts and the degree of difficulty. I found a guy in Florida who will fabricate the linings and bond and rivet them to the shoes. The cost is $185 p/shoe X 4 plus $180 shipping each way. It is almost a thousand dollars to get the remanufactured shoes. I was thinking the upgrade may be a little more, but may be worth it. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Glenn, can you get a picture of the drum? Does the drum have any kind of step in it? 

I did find in the Webb catalog that they do make a 15.5" drum, but its a 6" shoe. I did then search and I cannot find anyone that seems to have 15.5" shoes, I cannot even find an FMSI number for 15.5" shoes, very strange. 15" shoes are very common, but not 15.5". 

https://graphicvillage.org/meritor/TP12162.pdf

https://www.fleetpride.com/parts/webb-br...8yTeU4YN-e

So apparently you are not the only one who has been trying to track these down (I found this when I was trying to find the shoes):
https://newellgurus.com/showthread.php?t...0#pid51310

[Richard]

Steve MaGowen could give you more details.

But before I went any further, I would carefully measure the bolt circle on the lugs. Steve found out he had a non standard bolt circle. His coach was very close to yours.

The reason I bring this up is that a wheel upgrade to a larger drum might also involve an upgrade to a new hub so that the bolt circle diameter will match. Then new rims are required. Even at salvage yard prices, the cost starts to add up.

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So I was just chatting with my buddy Dennis and he happens to have a 97 and he sent me pics of his front hubs. I think it’s definitely a European hub, we do not have anything here that looks like it. 

Here is the pic he sent me: