Alright, I am totally lost! I'm finding conflicting information everywhere.
Mike, I replaced the shoes just an hour ago, since I got a bitchin warranty on these things.
Now, as far as shoe orientation goes, I installed the the same way they were and the only way they made sense. Like you said, material closest to wheel cylinder.
DRIVER:
This is how it came off, and went on.
Now on passenger, I forgot to take a picture, but i somehow managed to get the leading shoe on the rear on the other side. Weird, considering if that was the case it should pull LEFT right??? I corrected that and stuck the drum on, and the damn thing was so tight it wouldn't spin (same orientation as above) even with the adjuster spun all the way in. Now, I don't know if anyone recalls, but about a year ago I had an issue with the drivers side brake dragging. I went through everything and finally flipped the shoes around and it was fine.
Fast forward to today, and I had the same issue, except putting the shoe in the OPPOSITE position as I installed the drivers made it work??? Now it pulls left, and I'm absolutely lost. I have got to be doing something wrong, or getting shitty parts. (Doubt that)
I looked up some diagrams, and this link here shows the opposite of what I've already done here. Shows the shoe material is installed with the lining closest on the REAR side away from the piston on the wheel cylinder?
I'm too tired to be working on this thing.