Drum Brake Issues

[Chewievette]

Hi all, I recently bought a 1968 C-10 LWB and I've been driving it regularly for a couple weeks now but the other day I started noticing the smell of hot brakes, much more noticable in the cab than outside. If you touch the lug nuts the rear brakes are considerably hotter than the fronts but not so much to burn. Sometimes when starting from a stop it feels like much more power is required to get started than normal, usually this feeling is more noticable when changing directions for the first time, D to R or R to D. It does seem to be enough to stall the engine at slow enough speeds but that could be a totally different issue.

The most obvious conclusion is that the rear brakes are dragging, however I have taken all of the drums off and inspected the brakes thoroughly most everything inside looks brand new except some of the springs, linkages, and cylinders. I adjusted them to feel just a slight drag when turned but that has not helped.

The second conclusion was that the fronts were not working and the rears were doing all the work but when the front is in the air and the tires spun the brakes work fine. I have thought of cranking the rear adjusters in and driving a bit to test the fronts but I have not had the time yet and I'm not sure if thats a good way to test them.

I have a very short commute with few stops so this is not a critical issue but it could become one so I need to get it fixed soon. I am ordering a front disc conversion this weekend but I dont know how long that will take. I would like to try curing this problem before side stepping it ...especially if its a problem with the rears that I am keeping.