front brake drum synchronization?

So because i took off my front wheel, when putting it back on I followed the steps in the fsm to synchronize my front brake.

With the wheel off the ground the process is to loosen the "secondary pad" (turning the connecting rod clockwise), then tighten the "primary pad" (which is the one directly affected by the threaded brake rod an nut) until it begins to rub, then tighten the secondary until it begins to rub as well. Well how the heck can i hear one or the other slightly rubbing? I couldn't really feel it rubbing either until it is really hard against it.

I followed the steps and now the brakes aren't functioning properly (I no stoppey)

Do I want to adjust each pad until it just touches, or until it is really rubbing against?

Any tips would be helpful from others with front drums.

I haven't adjusted a drum brake on a motorcycle in years but on car /truck drums I normally adjust them till they just start drag when you spin the wheel

wireman wrote: I haven't adjusted a drum brake on a motorcycle in years but on car /truck drums I normally adjust them till they just start drag when you spin the wheel

yea same here, but the fsm here calls for adjusting each brake shoe separately and sync'ing them together, which is whats causing the problem I think. (wish it was as easy as turning the adjusting screw like on a cars drums)

I'll have to tinker with it for a while yet i'm sure, just hoping to hear from some people who have encountered the same process.

As long as its jacked up you might want to go ahead and pull the wheel off and check the shoes and hardware in there.
Drum brakes were never really great in the stopping department when they were new,30 plus years of wear/tear and lack of maintenance hasn't helped them Im sure.

wireman wrote: As long as its jacked up you might want to go ahead and pull the wheel off and check the shoes and hardware in there.
Drum brakes were never really great in the stopping department when they were new,30 plus years of wear/tear and lack of maintenance hasn't helped them Im sure.

sorry, i should have mentioned that I took the brake assembly out and cleaned/inspected it. The PO put new pads in it as well. Everything in there looks good.

I wonder if you couldn't tighten them up 1 at a time till it got tight then back it off a 1/4 turn at a time till it just started to drag,then repeat procedure on other shoe?