Thanks for the feedback on this fix. There's a couple of videos showing varous fixes but the spring one made the most sense after I watched them all. It's on my list for when it warms up.

 

They gotta get that guy into MENSA or something. I was thinking of replacing my parking brake cables but I'll definitely give this a go instead. Man, that's clever.

 

It looks like this is a good fix for the handle mechanism but I still need adjustment of the pads also.

 

Adjusting back there is pretty easy. Pull the caliper with its bracket off, remove the rubber hole plug, and start adjusting. I would spray the inside assembly with some brake cleaner, since mine was caked with mud since the hole plugs were missing. A brake spoon makes the job a lot easier. However, it didn't yield me much improvement, nor did it do so for the previous mechanic who forgot to put the plugs back in, so I'm going to give the video above a shot whenever I get a hold of a drum brake spring.