1970s Original brake shoes

[Richf1966]

Are there any experts here who may know the answer to this question. I just replaced the back brake shoes on my 75 Eldorado and I'm wondering if they are the original shoes? The car shows 39,625 miles on the odometer. The car has not been on the road since 2007, there are some oil replacement stickers on the door, the last one reads September 27, 1979. At that time the mileage is 4639 miles.

I am questioning this for two reasons, the first is that the original drum retention washers were still intact, I had to cut them to get them off. I've included a picture. The other is the backside of the shoe is marked "Delco Moraine Made in the USA". The rivets are pretty heavy duty and don't look like anything ever seen on aftermarket parts. The front brake pads were replaced as there is evidence of that but I am questioning if the rear have ever been replaced.


Interested to hear what everyone thinks.

[Roger Zimmermann]

With so few miles, they are probably the original ones. In 1980, I bought a new Olds Cutlass. I sold it with more than 60K miles; never replaced the rear shoes.

[V63]

I agree they are original.

I had a 1960 Chrysler with 'sure stop' brakes ... well they really didn't stop too good.

I finally learned that the specifications of the "replacement"
brake shoe linings were far and away from those originally engineered.

With the elimination of asbestos in these products they are going to perform differently. I am not as eager to change the OEM unless absolutely necessary.

[Jon S]

I'm sure they were the original brake shoes since rear's last at least twice as long as fronts since the front to do 80% of the stopping power. Also, no mechanic is going to reinstall the factory retaining clips.  Nobody has mentioned it, but I'm sure that the linings were made of asbestos which was outlawed in later years. 

[TJ Hopland]

I have seen lots of rear brakes go 100,000+ miles.  Age is often a bigger issue than use especially in harsh environments.  You get rust in there damaging things like jacking the material off the backing plates or breaking the springs so things don't work right and end up dragging and damaging things.

You don't even need a harsh external environment. You can end up with the wheel cylinder leaking brake fluid which is just as bad or maybe worse than road salt or sea salt for rust and tends to make the brakes grabby when it gets into the shoe material.  RWD cars can end up with axle seal issues that let the gear oil leak and contaminate the brakes and you would think oil would make the brakes not work but its just like brake fluid it tends to make them grabby.

I would say that about 80% of the rear brakes I have replaced have been due to contamination not wear.