I did adjust brakes per the service manual before attempting to adjust the parking brakes. They seemed to already be adjusted correctly.
I will have to get creative with getting the parking brake release to work correctly. Thanks for the confirmation that is probably just loose/worn.
So, today I took off both wheels and the outer drum. On the driver's side, a small piece of metal just fell to the ground. After removing the other side I figured out that it goes on top of the slave cylinder and apparently the little screw that holds it in is AWOL. Otherwise, the driver's side looks pretty good to me.
The passenger side however was full of grease. At first I thought it was brake fluid leaking and making a mess, but it is grease/oil. It seems to be coming from what I can only conclude is a drain hole for the drive shaft which had a big glob in it, when I cleaned it out somewhat, it would drain gear oil if I rotate the hub so it is on the bottom. So, I can't determine from the manual what is supposed to be here. Is that supposed to be some sort of drain plug? There isn't anything on the driver's side and it is not leaking oil - though it does seem to have grease packed in it.
So, I need some help with how to deal with the hub drain hole (I attached a photo). The other photos of the brakes are after cleaning them up.
