Been a long time since I adjusted one of these but as I recall there should be essentially no play in the mechanism in the center.
The star adjusters at the drum are what actually sets the adjustment. The adjuster in the center is there for cable slack.
EDIT: Try putting it in reverse and chirping the tires a bit. Might break the thing loose. Forward will make the shoes dig in further.
Thank you for the response,
The adjustment
should be set correctly, I only did it a few months ago as I heard it dragging. I rarely use the brake but today was an exception.
I haven't posted the full story so here is where I'm at right now:
I briefly lost brakes on an incline due to a leak I hadn't noticed, and I kicked in the parking brake to try and stop the car. This didn't work, and I had to put it into drive and hold it on the incline with throttle.
I fixed the hydraulic leak, a connector had come loose and was bleeding out throughout the night. It was an easy fix. Put new fluid in and purged the system of air.
The parking brake was very clearly stuck active and i had to limp it to a spot i could work on it. Like I said earlier, the pedal did not actuate the brakes at all.
Unless stomping on it broke something in the adjustment, I think it has to do with the adjustment in the console.
From the pedal to the bracket it seems somewhat taut when not depressed, and the driver's side cable is loose. The passenger side is fairly limp. The whole assembly has about 2-3 inches of play. The bracket is completely limp and drags across the top of the transmission tunnel.
I tightened it as much as possible, and pulled the assembly full aft and that was good enough to drive me back home. I know that ain't the way to fix it. There is something terribly wrong with the adjustment.
Starting to do rear drum adjustment now. All cables in the center console are limp again. Pedal does not actuate anything anymore. Car does roll freely now even without pulling the brake cables aft.
Could I have broken something?
