az1966

just got all 4 drums turned,,, and now emergency brake doesn't work,,,drums were glazed over and all shoes are either brand new ( rear ones) or fairly new ( front ones),, cable is approx right,,( don't need to pull handle all the way ) brakes kinda sorta engage but don't "lock" wheels in place,,, shoes are put in the right way and everything worked before turning the drums

any ideas?? any help / ideas appreciated

Shawnb23

Did you readjust your shoes? If your adjusters work properly put the car in reverse and hit the brakes a few times.

az1966

dialed 'em in as close as possible,, not to free wheeling and not draging to much,,,this is driving me nuts,,double checked my shop manual and there doesn;t seem to be a good reason the this happening

photocliff

Have you tried to manually adjust after placing wheel back on? Use a brake adjuster lever or a screww driver to turn the self adjuster. Access through the slotted hole on brake back plate. Turning wheel as you adjust.
Is the brake cable hooked into the brake lever inside the drum?

jlg2002

Here's my 2 cents worth:
If the PB was working OK before you turned the drums, you have a shoe to drum adjustment issue. The best way I've discovered (after many years of doing drum brakes) is to adjust the brake by turning the wheel until it will only rotate about 1 1/2 revolutions when spun with moderate force.
Step 2. pull the PB lever a couple of times.
step 3. push and release the brake pedal a couple of times.
step 4. go back and spin the wheel, it should have loosened way up.
Repeat the process as many times as it takes to get a slightly dragging brake ( no more than 2 turns rotation with moderate force applied)

If after all of this the PB is still not tight enough it's time to adjust the cable at the equalizer rod (see FSM sect 2).