I have had my M1008 for about 12 years now. The original brakes failed 10? years ago due to bad rear hub seals, entire inside was gooed up in dusty gear oil. I did an entire brake job and new rear bearings. The spindles had wear grooves in them and the original style seal lips could not seal. Also the breather line at the pumpkin was full of mud wasp stuff, meaning when the axle got hot the oil was pressurized and that made the leak worse. I added window screen around the vent to keep the mud critters out. I used the modern two piece oil seal from a mid 90's 14 bolt application, it fit perfectly and since it 'seals inside itself' the grooved spindles made no difference. I don't have this part number any more so you need to check the dimensions but it looks like the NATIONAL 710568 seal, search around, don't trust me on this part number... 8K or so miles later i pulled the drums and not a drop of oil. I mention this because gear oil leaking onto the brake shoes can cause drag and grief as well. The better seal made a huge difference and the plugged vent is not obvious.
Ok, so fast forward to last Saturday.... On the way home one brake dragged and got the drum so hot I was worried it would catch fire. I pulled the drum the next day and I can say they can take the heat because everything was visually ok. Remember the seal, no gear oil in there so only brake dust and spiders. I thought it could be a residual pressure or stuck wheel cylinder but it was not the case. What I found is that the parking brake cables were working but not properly, so much drag between the cable and sheath that they were not releasing fully, keeping the brakes from adjusting correctly, pulled to right and even when 'fine' would squeal when coming to a stop. Trying to find these three cable was not easy for me, just looking up the K30 etc.. gave me mostly Dana70 parts and nothing matched up at the parts counter. On line at Rock Auto, Napa, Pepboys, Advanced Auto etc.. was also not successful just looking up the civy equivalent. I was successful when i did a part number search online, the three gm part numbers in the -30P manual did cross reference to the correct parking break cables. Using Rock Auto.... the Front e brake Pedal cable was 14053593 = DORMAN C93247; Passangers rear: 14064664 = DORMAN C93254; Driver rear: 14064663 = DORMAN C93253 and get the DORMAN 484221 parking brake cable connector, the stamped metal u piece. This group of parts cost $35 pulse $10 in shipping which is about what one cable was costing me in the walk in store. They are not made the same way as the original but fit perfectly.
When I put it all together I loosely adjusted the star adjuster. I put a little bore scope camera in the access hole and watched from the cab. I can tell you I saw the star adjuster happily spin one to two clicks each time I stepped on the service brake, at rest, or if I pushed down the e brake pedel, or rolled forward or rolled backward. Lots of opinions about how the adjuster works, ie parking brake or going backwards but I can tell you it cliked happily along just in normal stationary pumping or rolling forward as well. The end result of all this is really nice balanced brakes, no squealing, no burning / hot etc. It took me about 4 hours to do this cable swap. Remember to jack up one axle side 3 inches or so and almost no oil spills when you pull the brake drum / hub.
Hope this helps. I did not see a lot of parking break cables mentioned in the threads so I wanted to share this with you as well in case you had a single hot drum, pulling to the side for no reason, squealing when coming to a stop etc. Just sharing my experience this week, your parts buying preference and counter sales results may differ...
