1989 XJ D35 AX-15

I have been having a long-running issues with my parking brake. If I engage the parking brake when rolling forward, it will cause tire skid on dry pavement without issue.
When rolling backward, however there is nearly no braking power. My driveway is a very shallow grade, and the parking brake does not come close to stopping it (very inconvenient when trying to warm it up in the cold Canadian winters, I actually just used a split log for this purpose)

Additionally, the parking brake can sometimes be very "sticky". The cable is releasing fully, however the brake is still fully engaged, and it can take a bit of 4Low or at least make the clutch work a bit to get the brake to "pop" out and disengage.

Finally, I believe the shoes have a fair bit of meat left on them, and they seemed to be evenly wearing when I last checked.

Is this most likely just an adjustment, or does something need to be replaced?

Thanks in advance

 

Adjust the rear brake shoes after verifying they have adequate material.

 

Is it just a single star wheel for the adjustment? (I have never touched rear brakes, and my FSM is buried somewhere nearly unreachable right now.)

 

Yep, single star adjuster at the bottom. Best to have a peek inside, when my rear brakes got funky it was because the hardware had rusted away. If you've never touched them and live in Canada (you get winter) you might be in for a surprise.
The hardware kit is cheap.

 

Those things get rusty as hell and springs break. I'd rebuild them if they are in poor condition.

 

Yeah, I live in Arizona. I can't hear cars rusting away like you guys do.