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Long story, but I had to flip my backing plates around on the axle tubes. I took the opportunity to replace the seals and gaskets on the bearing retainer (one side was damaged anyway).
First question: on the first bearing retainer, the new seal went in pretty easily - a press fit, but went in with more or less gentle taps with a rubber mallet. The other side, not so much. Tried pressing it in with a big parallel and some clamps and it just wouldn't go in straight. Tapping it with the mallet didn't help much, eventually I just mangled the seal and had to give up.
I'm buying another seal and I'll try again, but anyone have any good tips?
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Secondly, I'm also replacing the wheel cylinders and brake hardware. I have two brand new pairs of wheel cylinders - one is TRW, the other is a generic "OE brand". The castings look similar, but the main difference I noticed was the slot where the brake shoe goes - the TRW cylinders have a very wide slot, whereas the generic ones have a slot that closely fits the shoe. The TRW slot is about twice as wide as the shoe. I also noticed some of the angled adjusters have a wide slot, others have a thin slot. What's the deal here? Seems like the thinner slots would avoid problems with the shoe moving around on the slot. Does it matter?
And finally - the "stock" brake setup uses two springs to retract the shoes. I've seen some people use 3 springs, one on the adjuster side and two on the wheel cylinder side. I guess it'll help prevent dragging shoes, but I did see some damage to the wheel cylinder, which I think might have been caused by the extra spring. What do you guys think?