[adis]

THanks for the suggestion, Franken. I went out and checked the cables. it's a standard "Y" ebrake set up. "primary" cable from the pedal to the turnbuckle, second "intermediate" cable with each end going back to its respective rear wheel, third set of "rear" cables, one on each side, inside sleeves that run into each drum and engage the ebrake levers.

when i engage the pedal, both sides of the "intermediate" cable going L/R are taught all the way back to where they join with the rear sleeved portion of the "rear" cable at each drum - so, I don't think the problem is upstream of that point.

with the pedal released and the cable slack, i put a piece of tape on each rear cable where it enters the sleeve, then engaged the pedal to see how far the cable moved when it tightened: DR side about 3/8" PASS couldn't see any movement. this leads me to think that there is binding either in the PASS sleeve, or in the drum.

i disengaged the "intermediate" cable and grabbed each rear sleeved cable with a vise grip pliers and pulled on each one to see if i could feel the cable moving the ebrake lever inside the drum. picture me laying on the ground head twd front, feet braced on the dually wheels, and pulling with as much strength as i could muster. i felt the DR side move, again maybe 1/4" to 3/8" - PASS side...nothing.

i really don't want to disassemble the drum again, but i'm afraid either the cable is bound in the sleeve (maybe where the sleeve housing bolts to the backing plate?) or some part of the ebrake mechanism itself (actuating lever or shoe link?) is out of place and bound up. is it possible for the cable to get rusted in place? the cable is not rusted outside the sleeve, it's actually in good serviceable condition. what a bummer