I'm retarded-brake problem

Mr. incompetent here, at your service. Here's the situation-drivers side drum off, pedal pushed, drum no go on. What do I do? :?
The rear brakes don't work when the jeep is moving (at least they didn't lock up last winter when I hit the pedal going over a patch of ice.) I have 11" er's, but I don't know the donor-(grandpa's work a long time ago.) Anyhoo, I feel pretty dumb right now...I'm going to cry in a corner.

 

if the push rods didn't pop out of the wheel cylinder, then you can try to compress the shoes to force the fluid back into the m/cyl
you could also crack the bleeder screw and compress the shoes
watch your eyes, brake fluid bad news for eyes

 

Tried to compress, didn't work. What about backing off the adjuster?

 

That should work. Usually necessary.

 

Replace the cylinder in each wheel. All four. They are about 8 bucks each and boy what a difference. If you are still having problems, take out the proportioning valve in the brake lines and replace it with two t fittings

 

Save your tears. I just had a couple of my drums off and had to back off the adjusters to get them off and then again to get them back on after replacing the wheel cylinders. No big deal.

 

Thanks for the help. I'm going to do my time in the garage and get 'er done. :stout::v6:

 

And 2 years later I'm updating this post...
This past summer I finally got to the brakes. I put new brake lines up front (old ones were cracked), new wheel cylinders all around, and new brake shoes all around. I didn't get the parking brake hardware put back in, but I'm not too worried about that. After all is said and done, I'm not going to worry about a disc brake conversion anymore. These 11" brakes are better than almost anything else I have driven (not saying much - but they are great!). I think I may have adjusted them out a little too much, since it takes a little bit of work to turn the tires, and the Jeep will stop fairly quickly if I let it roll. But overall the brakes are no longer an issue - and they no longer pull, which is something I had to get used to.
Thanks for the help!