Ok, it
seems I am missing a whole bunch of components in my rear drum brake system. And, that the same exact set of components are missing from both sides.
So, either
A, I have a different version of components than I'm finding anyone else has,
or B, a previous owner scavenged these particular parts from both sides so i'm missing them.
Here's a pic of just having removed the first two springs up top. That's all i had touched at this point.
Comparing it to this brake disassembly vid of a 1990 Ranger,
https://youtu.be/rlUeUk8swLg , (skip to 4:00) I have several things missing including some cables and pivot bracket type things.
Additionally, the parking brake piece/strut is not what i was expecting. I was expecting something like this
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=11585&cc=1137642&pt=10715&jsn=952 , but all i've found is this wildly different piece attached to a spring/cable shown in last pic.
No idea where to go from here. Am i missing pieces? I'm happy to thoroughly clean and recondition what i have, but i can't tell right now if i'll ever be able to make these assemblies function/complete.
On a side note, I'm almost positive i've been rolling with zero rear braking since i got the truck.
Right:
Left:
Right, disassembled and showing parking brake thingy dangling: