Brake adjustment

[myoldjalopy]

Hello. I am in the process of adjusting my brakes. On the rear wheels, one side the adjuster went up two clicks, so I backed it off one and it seems OK, just a little rubbing but turns freely. The other side would only go up one click and this did not lock the wheel, which, however, then does turn freely, perhaps not quite as freely as the other side, but is certainly not an effort to turn. So I'm thinking its OK to leave like that but not sure why I couldn't get the wheel to lock on the adjuster.
Comments/advice welcome..................(and yes, I did let the handbrake off!)

[myoldjalopy]

OK, so I took her out this afternoon for a 25 mile drive. Noticed no lack of performance or other issues but on arrival at my destination, noticed the wheel was quite warm (whereas the other three were cool). Not hot, but warm and no funny smell or sizzling/clicking noises like something too hot. I let it cool down for an hour or so while I did the same (in the sea) and then drove home. On return, warm again.
I'm wondering whether to back it off to where it was before, or whether to leave it and see if the brake shoe rubs itself down over time. Just to add, the shoes (Mintex) have only done about 6,000 miles.
What do you good folks here think?

[dalebrignall]

do the wheelcylinders slide up and down freely on the backplate

[philthehill]

It is false policy to have the brake shoes too close to the drum.
Brake shoes should not touch the drum at any point when rotating the wheel/drum.
The wheel cylinder needs to be exercised and having the brake shoe rubbing the drum even slightly means that the piston in the cylinder hardly moves and it can be prone to sticking and ultimately seizure. The piston needs to travel to keep it free.

[myoldjalopy]

Thank you both for your replies.
Yes, the cylinder is free. i don't think it is a case of anything sticking, the brakes work fine and don't seize on at all. After consideration, it is clear to me that the brakes on that wheel are just slightly over-adjusted - the shoes should not be rubbing so much as to cause the wheel to warm up and I suspect fuel consumption would increase, if nothing else. I have decided to back off another notch, though why I can't lock the wheel is not completely clear to me.
Following Phil's line of thought, perhaps the instructions should be adjust up until the wheel locks, and then back off the adjuster until the wheel rotates freely (rather than simply the general instruction to routinely back off one click). I am now remembering a car I had back in the 80's where I had to back off two clicks to ensure the wheel was free and also get good braking.

[philthehill]

The workshop manual is for guidance as regards brake adjustment.