Really dumb question

[Steve Demeter]

I pulled a drum off of my trailer today to adjust the brakes and generally inspect things today. Everything seemed in order. But one thing that I had noticed in the past, when I actuated the lever attached to the magnet, only the shoe attached to the lever moved. The other one stood perfectly still. I have never paid attention to this before.
Is this normal?

[DaveW]

I pulled a drum off of my trailer today to adjust the brakes and generally inspect things today. Everything seemed in order. But one thing that I had noticed in the past, when I actuated the lever attached to the magnet, only the shoe attached to the lever moved. The other one stood perfectly still. I have never paid attention to this before.
Is this normal?

The second shoe is pushed into drum contact by the one that the lever actuates. It requires that the drum is rotating forward and drags on the 1st shoe during brake application to have that happen. That "self-actuation" is normal in drum brakes.

Because of that, drum brake components are "directional" and must be installed in the correct (L, R, front shoe, rear shoe) orientation to work.

As an aside, effective self-actuation also depends on having the shoe clearances properly adjusted - too much slop in the system, and it doesn't work well, if it works at all. That's why I went to the self-adjusting setup when I replaced almost my entire electric trailer brake system 4 or 5 years ago.

[Rick Kirchner]

Yup. what dave said

[Steve Demeter]

Kind of what I thought. Been so long I wasn't sure.

I remember not to get the shoes mixed up.

Thanks for the answer.