I'm sure this is obvious advice, but I always take one side apart and put it back together while the other side is still together and available as a reference!

 

I ran across this thread while searching my several year ongoing problem.
I cannot count the times I have had the drums off of my DRW 1985 F350 with Dana 70 and 3.5" shoes trying to remedy this..
It has been my experience that Ford or Dodge, Dana 70 are all the same brake parts.
Everything in there that can be new is new.
I used to have park brakes that would hold a trailer load of cattle; now, they just barely hold the empty truck.
If I adjust the shoes tight enough for the park brakes to hold, then they almost catch fire driving down the road.

I did have an issue where one of the nubs on a shoe was incorrectly made and allowing something else in there to ramp over it and cause the shoe to not release and drag; I would have to take it apart and look to remember exactly what it was; anyhow, I did have to weld and grind a better shoulder on that shoe --- and it was new.

Tell me more about this park brake and shoe welding business; maybe I need to weld some more meat on my shoes.

Is the shoe in the pictures the same shoe, before and after ?
The top picture appears to have the leading point farther from the body of the shoe than the welded one or maybe it is an optical illusion.

Thanks for any help.