Shayne is right. We're not bodging something here. We have a very strict annual vehicle exam here and the only thing that the Cruiser can fail on is a defective handbrake. It's always been the same. Since we've been doing this repair and setting up the rear brake this way, I don't think we've had another failure. If you've not read the guide then you really should. It actually led to FNB in Oz manufacturing slightly longer dog bones.
Here's a quick explanation of why the brake is so poor. (I'll put this on the original thread too)
There's no lubrication in there and lots of metal on metal contact. The shoes are a perfect fit on the bench when you place them inside the drum against the wall. Well, they SHOULD be but due to manufacturing tolerances they sometimes aren't. When you set the shoes up with the little cog wheel at the bottom of the wheel, it winds the shoes out against the drum until the touch. But it only winds the bottom; in other words they pivot around the top point. What happens is that the first bit of the shoe to touch the brake drum effectively stops any further adjustment. So you pull on the handbrake lever and get a fantastic feeling handbrake. Wow, that's brilliant. Then off you go, find a hill, pull up, stick the brake on, let the main brakes off and you just slide down the hill. Sound familiar?
This is because only a tiny portion of the friction lining is actually touching the brake drum. No way near enough. What you can do next is drive along and just keep applying the handbrake in 100 m bursts. Relatively gently and only a few applications to prevent it getting too hot. This is actually in the factory service manual. What it does is sort of machine off friction material until it's the same shape as the inside of the drum. But there are limits and whilst it does work, it doesn't always prove to be enough. You will probably have to adjust the brake again when you have finished.
Right, if that doesn't work and you have removed all the free play in the mech as I describe in the set up method, then it's time to mess with the dog bones. What this does is push the tops of the shoes out a bit more so that when the adjuster is turned or the lever is pulled, the shoes make a different contact pattern with the brake drum surface. So adding a small weld or a longer bone simply isn't going to end in disaster. We're talking a couple of mm extra. If you do too much, you can't get the drum back on!
