Help with Brake Adjustment?

My '64 G-10 has the stock drum brakes. I plan to do the disc conversion for next winter's biggie...in the mean time, my van pulls right at the very end of braking, brakes seem OK otherwise, they grab good during hard braking. When raised, there is proper drag on the right front and both rear wheels, but the driver's front spins free. All pads and drums are good decent and there are no leaks, the brakes were "done recently" by the PO. It seems that the self adjusting feature is not working on the one side and there is no slot for manually adjusting. I read in the shop manual there is a knock out to access the adjuster if needed. Anyone have this issue and what should I be looking for when I pull the drum, do the adjusters stick?, can it be freed or does it need replacing....a Donivan type pic sure would be appreciated!

,,,I just happen to have some of those Donivan brake pictures,,,,,,

,,,so check and see if the right parts are there......maybe someone messed up and put the rear 2" wide shoes up front,,,,they should be 2 1/2",,,,,,check and see if the star wheel pushes the shoes out when you push it down,,,,wrong side on there will pull shoes in,,,,see if primary shoe is towards bumper,,,,it has the shorter lining,,,,,knock the plug out,,,,put the drum on with 2 lug nuts,,,,peek in the adjusting hole and make sure the star wheel is towards the left,,,,pull up on screwdriver or brake spoon and click it until the drum is locked up,,,,stick another thing like a skinny phillips screwdriver to the right of the star wheel,,,lift up bar A,,,that lets you like turn the star wheel 3 clicks back,,,or until the drum now turns,,,,

Ask and Don shall deliver!!! Those are some very good pics to make it clear. It's great having someone with your knowledge and willingness to share. Are you home from your trip yet?

,,,,nope,,,sitting in my motorhome,,,,,on my laptop,,,,,,in a driveway,,,,in Chicago,,,,with the roof A/C going full blast,,,,,but,,,,it is starting to be the same day over and over again,,,,,,,so,,,,,,Sunday planning to head West,,,,,,,,,

Yepper, I will pull the front wheels this weekend, long thank god!, and see what's up with it. The shop manual says to open the star wheel until you can just slide the drum on and off with some drag and then close it 1-1/4 turns? and then drive backwards and hit the brakes several times...but I will do the way shown through the slot. They say to only open the slot in an emergency to get the drum off if the lining is rusted and the drum can't be removed? I will check if that adjuster is in correctly and adjusted properly. Thanks guys...

...that might of been true 50 years ago when the book was written and the parts were new,but that dont take into account a built up ridge or a stretched cable,,,at least if you do it by hand, you know the brakes are adjusted correctly and if you still have braking problems, you can look for other causes....

Good point on the drum ridge, I will do what you said through the slots!

,,,,and make sure that spring over the star wheel is not backwards and touching the wheel stopping it from turning....

I opened it up tonight with my iPad and those pics right next to me! Everything looks good, new correct size pads and the drum looks much newer than 50 years, must have been replaced, little rust and no scoring, the knock out slot was never punched, but its about 1/3 behind the balancing weight? so I left it alone. This wheel spun free on the jack. I simply turned the star open a few turns and slid the drum back on each time until the drag felt about right, equal to the other side. I put the drum and wheel back on and hit the brakes in reverse a few times and now there is no pull as before and the brakes work as good as drums can, they even lock up evenly on a wet road if you slam them! (it rained an hour before I did this!) One thing different than your pics, is your small return spring from the lever to the rear shoe is missing off the small tang? Not being a pro mechanic, I figure the way they self adjust is the lever pushes on the star wheel in reverse and tightens the adjuster as the brakes wear down, occassionally reaching the point where the star will turn a click as long as its in range of the shoes to start with, which mine was clearly too far away to work properly. Then the return spring keeps the lever off the star when braking forward? which is the way I found my lever with that spring in place, not tight against the star, didn't need a screw driver to pry it upward to turn the wheel, that spring balanced the lever against the larger "over ride" spring as shown in the shop manual.