kz440 rear brake adjustment

I'm pretty stuck here. I got new tires put on my '80 kz440 and have the wheels back on the bike now, I adjusted the chain tension and aligned the rear wheel, but cannot get the rear brake drum adjusted for the life of me. I'm not sure if they're just not centering or what, but i can hear the brake starting to drag after barely applying the brake, but the distance the pedal has to travel between that point and the brakes being fully applied is probably 2.5 inches. I tried spinning the wheel and jamming on the pedal, then tightening the axel, but Im honestly not even 100% sure I'm doing that correctly. The pads looked like they had plenty of life left and the wear indicator is around the middle of the range. Any thoughts?

There are only a couple of adjustments. make sure the cam lever angle is at 80-90^o max in relation to the brake rod, and adjust the brake pedal free play using the brake rod nut. There may also be a pedal height adjustment. my 81 650 has a stop to set the height. You may need to double check the rear wheel alignment.

Replace old shoes. If the age of the rear brake shoes is not known, you should replace them. The adhesive that binds the linings to the shoes can fail over time, so a lining can break loose & get jammed between the shoe & drum, locking the rear wheel. It happened to me when rolling the bike off the center stand in the driveway. very lucky. I would hate for it to happen at speed & far from home. My old shoes looked good & had little wear, but they were the old originals.

+1 what Martin has said.

The only bike I've ever owned that had the rear brake shoes separate - locking-up the rear wheel completely was my '82 kz440 ltd.
Luckily I was on a dirt road with no traffic and not going very fast or that outcome might have been different.

Yikes. Well I'm sold. Ordering new shoes today. While I'm at it I'll probably just replace the chain and sprockets too. They too seem to have some life left in them, but I'm not sure it's worth the risk and I'll already have the wheel back off the bike anyway. Any recommendations on chain & sprocket kits, or is this something the doesn't differ too much from brand to brand? Thanks for the help!

How many miles are on the bike? I don't know much about the drive chain, but I wouldn't replace that stuff unless needed. worn sprockets, worn chain, stretched chain, crumbling o-rings on an o-ring chain. obvious damage.

From the diagrams at Partzilla the 1980 440-A1 Ltd came stock w a 530 chain & sprockets. 15T Fr & 45T Rr.
you might be able to go with a different setup if so desired. some guys want to lower the highway rpms,
so they go with a larger Fr or smaller Rr. I don't know how much you can vary a 440s sprockets or how much good it will do.

I believe the miles read around 9000, but I'm not sure thats correct, as this bike appears to have been tinkered with quite a bit in the past. the chain and rear sprocket are definitely worn a fair bit. The tensioners have to be brought back to the 2nd to last notch, and the rear sprocket has the shark fin effect going on. There are a few pretty decent parts yards around where I live, so I wonder if it would be worth it to yank some used, but good condition sprockets off a 440 or 400 there, provided I can find them. What do you think?

Well if the rear sprocket looks like circling shark fins then it's time to replace your sprockets and chain.
That is a job you *can* do at home BUT you will need an angle grinder to separate the old chain and a master link chain tool to install the new chain.
I did this recently on my 650 and wasn't difficult except for getting the drive sprocket off which needed an impact gun and the trick i learned here on the forum of binding up the old chain with 2 1/4" bolts to lock-up the old chain so the impact gun could do it's thing on the 32mm drive sprocket nut.
Master Link Tool online is cheap nowadays, about $40.
Electric Impact Gun w/ 1/2" drive & socket at HFTools for about $50
Sprockets and chain set (stock) eBay for about $80- $120
Extra 1/4" bolts, nuts & washers at HD about $2
It'll take you about 2 hours if you got everything.

Make sure you have a good ph-3 bit or JIS bit for cover removal and some penetrating oil.