1936 C40 brakes

left rear brake

Calling all brake experts
I am finally getting around to reassembling the rear brakes on my 36 C40 truck. I tried to be smart by taking pictures before I disassembled them a few months ago, but now I see that the springs weren't installed the same on the left and right sides. On the left side, the large diameter spring is at the rear as shown. On the right side, the large diameter spring was at the front. I think I know which was correct, but thought I'd check with the experts.
Thanks!
RJB

I am no expert. But it appears that the smaller diameter spring goes on the primary shoe and the larger diameter spring goes on the secondary shoe. This reference is from the MoToR's truck repair manual from the desk of Mr. Ben O. Kochel. Also just FSAG the reference shows the secondary spring being placed on first and hooked overhand at the anchor pin. The primary shoe spring is hooked underhand and over the secondary spring at the anchor point.

Did you replace the shoes? I had and ended up with some major issues which lead me to a 500 mile road trip. Can't remember if I did a write up on it or not. I still believe that the issues my truck had and one of the main reasons my truck was retired from service was someone doing a really bad rear brake job. They used wrong sized and improperly installed rivets that ended up shearing and allowing one pad to wedge the other pad and all hell broke loose.

Thanks! That's what I was thinking but with more detail than I remembered. I have worked on drum brakes before but it has been a while.

I had my shoes relined at a local truck parts supply. The rear brakes are 16" diameter by 3" wide, and new shoes aren't really an option at this point. They riveted and bonded on the new lining, so it should be good. The picture above is from the "good" side. On the other side, the axle seal failed and had leaked long enough that the whole drum was almost full of goop. One of the four shoes was worn down through the rivet heads in some places. It definitely needed work when I got it

Yup, it's a pain when the lining comes loose. My friends wife has a 62 Ford pickup. He had looked over the brakes when they bought it and the lining looked good. A few months later the lining on one of the front shoes unbonded and jammed the other shoe. The truck pulled hard to the right, but she was close to home and carefully drove it back. The brakes on that corner were smoking by then so it wasn't hard to find the problem. After new shoes, drums, wheel cylinders, rubber brake lines, and return springs, all was well again. We had already replaced the master cylinder, so that should be all it needs for a long time.