I have orig rear drum brakes on my '53 1/2 Chevy 3100. They've always stopped the truck, but the parking/emer brake function has always been iffy. I put new parking brake cables on, and after some adjusting and trial-and-error, found that one side (the right) isn't really expanding the shoe outward. I took the drum off, and poked around. The linings on the shoes are fair (not in need of replacement yet). The parking brake cable attaches to the so-called (from the shop manual) "toggle lever". The lever sort of pivots on the against the cast steel of the wheel hub and pushed the shoe outward, however there's a lot of space there (between lever and where it pivots aginst the hub). It looks like my problem is that by the time the cable pulls tight and pulls the lever against the hub, it doesn't really pivot/lever the shoe outward like it should. I compared left side against right, and I don't see any big differences in part shape/size/configuration. Another thing: the "extension link" that sort of connects with the lever, and would push the opposite brake shoe outward has a tremendous amount of slack in it and is in no way effective either. So somethings not right in Denmark (or Washington). Anyone out there who can help?
