Rear brakes - wrong backing plate

[CJH]

I've been servicing my rear brakes (new shoes, springs, cylinders, drums). I did the right hand wheel first, so that I could make it match the photo in the wiki. Then I did the left hand side, and of course it's the mirror image of the right hand wheel. Except that when assembled this way the hole in the backing plate that gives access the the adjuster wheel is in the wrong place - see photo.



I'm sure I haven't got things backwards. It's not possible to put the shoes on the other way round since the trailing shoe is dictated by the handbrake cable. And I can't put the adjuster stay in the other way round, since the spring loaded ratchet is fixed to the leading shoe and eventually it wouldn't line up with the ratchet wheel. So I'm sure I've got things the right way round, which means my back plate must be wrong. It's almost as though it's a universal backing plate (apart from the adjuster hole, obviously), since there's even two symmetric handbrake entry points (unlike the backing plate on the right hand wheel).

I can do without the access hole during assembly, but when it comes to removing the drum in the future I may need to back off the shoes.

So can I simply drill another hole now to give me access to the adjuster wheel?

[itchyfeet]

Strange?

Yes why not drill a hole

[CJH]

On second look, the handbrake cable entry point has been added afterwards, which means this is just a right hand side backing plate fitted to the left hand side. It seems OK otherwise, so I think I will just go ahead and make a new adjuster hole.

[itchyfeet]

And who sold you this ? For the record?

[CJH]

And who sold you this ? For the record?

This is a mod carried out by a previous owner - it's been this way since I bought the van a year ago. Whether it's a cost cutting measure or an honest mistake I don't know, but it doesn't seem too bad. I suspect it was a 'refurb-on-a-budget' - there's no lip on the drum but the edge of the shiny friction surface is very thin and wavy, as though it's been ground away. It's worked fine for the last year apart from the slight pulsing in the pedal. If it works as well after I'm finished I'll consider that a success!