The only reason I thought the trailing brake shoe would wear faster is based on post below from a JEEP forum; my wear patters is the opposite. I have no idea whether trailing or leading shoe wears quicker and was just curious if my wear pattern is normal.
BELOW IS POST FROM JEEP FORUM:Passenger car drum brakes since at least the early 1950s have been of the "self-servo" persuasion. In the "self-servo" design, when the brakes are applied, the leading (forward) brake shoe moves into contact with the rotating brake drum. The entire brake shoe assembly (both shoes and misc. hardware) then pivots rearward from the top and "wedge" the trailing (rear) rear brake shoe into the rotating brake drum.
Have you noticed that the brake shoes and connecting hardware are not solidly attached at the bottom of the backing plate? That is a deliberate design feature. It allows the entire brake shoe assembly the limited amount of play required to pivot.
The idea underlying the "self-servo" design is that the "wedging" (not to be confused with a "wedgie" ) action multiplies the braking force applied by the driver and makes for lower brake pedal pressures required to stop a moving vehicle. That became an important ergonomic design consideration as the cars of the early fifties went on steroids and became larger and larger and heavier and heavier and faster and faster - increasing brake system loading.
Keep in mind that vacuum-assisted power brakes were not available or available only as a high-cost option on many cars of the period.
It is inherent to the "self-servo' design that the trailing brake shoe actually provides most of the stopping power. Hence, the trailing brake shoe will wear faster than the leading brake shoe, and that is also why there is more brake pad material on the trailing shoe? (A way to tell them apart.)
Greg
