I can readjust the shoes to sit correctly on the anchor bolt with the parking brake lever positioned as you say. Then if I press brake pedal again, with or without the drums on, the shoes and cylinder actuator rods end up in basically the same shape again.
You should never press the brake petal without the drums on as that will pop the wheel cylinder pistons out.
Once you get the shoes seated on the anchor pin and all the springs shoe retainers on, put the drum on and run that adjuster out until you get a drag on you drum. At this point follow the instructions under “Major Adjustment”adjustment found in the 54 Chevrolet shop manual. The ‘54 is the same as our ‘52.This involves adjusting the shoe anchor in addition to the shoe adjustment. I’ve linked that section if you don’t already have it.
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1954truck/54ctsm0513.html
