One way that seems to work to tell if your rears are out of adjustment, is
how terrible your parking brake works....
I found its pretty much impossible to adjust the parking brake to work but
not drag if the  rears are out of adjustment. As far as pulling the
drums..... Hammer, PB blaster, Heat sounds possible but idk...., and
creative wedging of a screwdriver (though do not pry too hard against the
backing plate!) I used a block of wood wedged against something on the
suspension to brace my screwdriver off. Pry all around, pound and pound, and
once you get some motion....just stick with it.

I like the method of adjusting the brakes to make them as big as you can
untill the drum no longer fits. Then you make them smaller a bit, get the
drum on, PUMP THE BRAKE (With the drum on. It sets the shoes), and if it's
loose again, make the shoes bigger untill they JUST about drag. That seems
pretty close to me. Then you adjust the parking brake cable at the
connection point midway under the van accordingly.

Tommorow i search for a leak.

-Craig
'85gl

On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 11:26 PM, Troy <colorworks@gci.net> wrote:

>  I'll be real curious to know what your solution is. I was having a
> similar set of problems with my 89, and replaced the master cylinder.  I
> bled the brakes twice, but may need to do it once more. I've also adjusted
> the rear brakes twice, and STILL the brakes engage somewhere around half to
> two thirds down. I'm quite certain my drums are a little bit warped, as
> the shoes do not scrape continuously, but rather just about once every
> revolution. I was trying to get the drums off, but what a job!  I pounded
> the heck out of them with a hammer, plus also backed off the star wheel
> adjuster about 15 turns, but can't get those things to budge. May try heat
> next, but put the thing back together for now. I'm told that the distance
> the pedal travels is directly related to the rear brakes, so I'm puzzled.
> And it looks so easy in the video I watched;)
>
> Troy
>