I've got a 2000 cavalier z24 and I'm having issues with the rear brakes staying on after I pull the e brake lever and then lower it again.
I've replaced all 3 ebrake cables, drums, shoes, nearly every spring in the drums and the ebrake lever inside the center console. When I first took apart tthe drums I noticed the parking brake bar inside the drum had been bent on one side, I flattened it out with a vice and its back into proper shape.The brakes are adjusted properly and everything seems to be installed in working order. The only way to disengage the rear brakes after using the ebrake is to push the cylinder on the end of the cable itself back down where it is latched onto the ebrake lever up front. It seems to me the tension on the lever is too strong since you really have to pull it back just to latch in the cable, regardless, it seemed to work in the past and I didn't alter the installation of the cable from how it is supposed to be.

did you grease the contact points? replace the spring hardware? have the shoes on properly? try lubricating the inside of the brake cables. take an old drum, or get a drum from a wrecker, ancut the face off it so you can see how the mechanism is (or isn't) working when you apply the parking brake.



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The shoes facing the front on either side seem to grab rather than the rear shoes. i can turn the wheel in reverse but sometimes not forward when this has happened. the shoes are on right and i replaced the spring hardware, havent tried greasing the contact points yet though, something is preventing the cable from letting off enough to release the brakes