I took apart the thing again tonight. The shim was still there. The shoes were worn down/I could see about 1/16 inches worn off. The brake rotor is not siezed. The pad behind it is stuck and I can’t get it out. I sprayed it with some penetrating fluid so it hopefully works loose soon. I leveled out and scuffed up the pads as best I could with some sand paper, and put it back together. Adjusted as best I could. They still aren’t great. I’ll probably be ordering new pads, but it makes sense what you’re saying about the wheels being spun opposite of each other because it makes a nasty grinding sound when the brakes are applied. It is adequate at very best, this seems like a brake they made as cheap as possible, I really am not a fan of it. I might see if I can redneck engineer something less crappy. Like, if I can attack a real rotor and caliper, or band brake, similar to on a go kart.pads are cheap so replace them
Note these is always a shim behind the inner one
There are 2 adjustments for the brake
On is the nut on the center arm the other is on the rod that pulls that arm.
Just a note hesr.
The brake works on the layshaft in the box so it locks the diff
Thus one wheel can only go forwards & the other can only go backwards so it is a sudden death brake, you can not adjust it for a smooth soft braking.
The parking brake simply locks the clutch brake pedal in the down position.
I would say things are worn out and some parts needs replacing especially since this is a vintage 2005 mower. Personally I never had a problem with the MTD braking system when they working correctly and I have weighted as much 260 lbs which is a lot of weight to stop along with the mower weight going down hill. The braking does provide some soft braking action as the spring does gives somewhat.
The most common failure of the MTD and Peerless brakes is stuck pins and worn brake pads. Many of the mower I work the brake hadn't worked in years so when the owners get them back they need to use to using the brakes again.
Back when I was a teenager (over 40 yrs ago) I did have a brake system failure on a Craftsman mower where I went to stop in emergency and mower didn't. It resulted with me going over a four foot drop off. When I seen I wasn't stopping I just straighten up as to not to roll over, at least wasn't a complete sheer drop but close to it. When I was trying to stop the brake held but the shaft at the transaxle sheered completely off. Once I got over the initial shock of the drop off I had to push that home over a half mile. Boy was I exhausted when I got home as it was uphill most of the way.