Rear Drum Brakes on Silverado

While in New Hampshire last month I heard the rear brake squeal after a long 8% grade downhill and had to use the brakes too much. I took the truck to a local shop and the owner said they weren't that bad and I could easily get another year or two out of them. He cleaned them up but in my mind, they needed to be changed when I got home.
I ordered new pads from Rock Auto and bought the spring kit also.
I pulled the drums off Friday, as my friend who is a mechanic was coming over Saturday to give me a hand. It has go to be a good 25 years since I have done drum brakes so he was my back up insurance.
I took the drums to STS and they charged $18 per drum to turn them down, said they were thick and next time should not be a problem if I want them cut again next brake job. At first I thought the was high, but thinking about it, shop time is the real expense, and $36 for a half hour labor is in line.
The guy in New Hampshire was right, the new brakes had more meat, but not a lot more. I would have been better off waiting a year or two, but a piece of mind is worth it to me. I have to get out the brake spoon as they are not as hard as I like. I know backing up and hitting the brake peddle will eventually get them where they need to be, but I am just too impatient sometimes.

I was looking to order some pads for my in laws Silverado, I'm driving it right now to run errands since my FIL just had heart surgery and won't be driving for a few more weeks, from rockauto but even after loading the vehicle in it gives me options for 1 caliber or 2 so I'm us going to let me mechanic friend order what's needed and do it. The ones online and the local parts store isn't much of a difference in price and I don't want to order the wrong stuff or stuff I don't need. But man the pickup certainly needs new brakes!

Rock Auto is a good source for me, but I do know what you mean about being sure to order the right parts with so many options. I did the front brakes and rotors on my Silverado with the parts ordered from them. Instead of the regular rotors, I went with the slotted that cool down a little better when towing my 31' travel trailer.
I have ordered brakes and rotors for the Yukon and my sons Honda Civic with no problems. Sometimes I wish they would be more descriptive when you click on a particular part. With the price of pads and rotors, I find in most cases that I order both when doing a brake job. The drum brakes I did were the exception and I didn't order the drums because I couldn't find out if they were cut before they were sent out. In the past, drum brakes sometimes came painted on both the inside and outside.

So much for the self adjusting brakes, I had to pull the drums off today and adjust them out, the brakes were barely working. I came close to going into a 50mph busy highway when leaving a strip mall as the peddle went to the floor and almost took me into the highway.

Wow that stinks. Glad you made it back safe. They working better now?

Im getting all the shocks (ordered from RockAuto), brakes, horn and tie-rod replaced on my inlaws 2003 1500 Silverado. Im expecting and hoping it rides and drives a lot smoother than when I dropped it off at the shop yesterday.

If the shoes are set too loose then they don't like to self adjust.

I used slotted rear rotors on my S-blazer but only because they were zinc(?) coated and I wanted to see how they held up with the salt. So far they have done good but moving to a low salt environment is better.