Rear drums givin' me issues...

My left rear drum seems to like to grab (you can plainly feel it, and the car quickly grinds to a halt... this is bad in stop and go traffic when the car stops well before you want it to! I just got in one accident, I dont need another!). This is driving me nuts, as now I get a little anxious when coming up on a yellow light (half the time I run 'em anyway). I am pretty sure the shoes are too close to the drum, but nothing else readily comes to mind to explain this problem. I know my RR drum needs work, as the wheel cylinder is leaking. In fact, you can see the brake fluid leaking out the back of the drum. I always use the e-brake when parking the car, and judging by the number of clicks it takes to fully engage and the near total lack of effort I need to pull the lever up, the drums are out of adjustment as it is. They were just re-adjusted 4 months ago fer chrissake! I also notice on occasion an awful lot of groaning in back when the brakes are applied. Not all the time but sometimes. The brakes were thoroughly cleaned the last time we had them apart (September), so I doubt that grime build up is the problem. Have any of you had a problem like this where one drum was bitin' like a mo-fo? If so how did you fix it? AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!1 :evil:
A very disgruntled Steve

[DIRTBIKEZ]

I would start first by removing the rear wheels and turning the drums by hand to see if the brakes are dragging. If they do not seem to be, then I would just adjust both rear brakes again. With the rear tires off, remove that rubber grommet from the drum and use a brake tool or flathead to tighten the brake "struts" (term maybe incorrect) until you just cannot rotate the drum by hand and then back them off four or five clicks. Do the same thing on both sides and see if that helps.

As for the parking/hand/emergency brake... you have to remove the center console to gain access to the cable to make the adjustments. Hope that helps.

I forgot... inspect the drums and shoes while you are at it, that may also be part of the problem.