Well I guess in their defence, if they fark them on the brake machine it is likely that they wouldn't have worked when needed. The weakness as it is (although you are relying on one drum, with two shoes rather than on the wheels with four shoes and two drums which is 50% more redundancy) is in the driveshaft and pinions - that's where the failures seem to happen with them. The driveshaft either unwinds itself with the sudden shift from load side to unload (it was explained to me as similar to trying to grab reverse at 30Km/H and slowly releasing the clutch) which causes the pinions to flop about. If there is any wear and play the things take a hate to you most ricky ticky.
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