With the rear hub off the motor, I could then inspect the area in an attempt to determine what was causing the grinding sound coming from that area. I immediately noticed that the whole brake drum was filled with a fine powder. I also noticed that the back side of the hub looked very shiny, so there was some rubbing clearly going on. I had expected to find some rubbing on the outside of the rear brake backing plate, but I had not expected it on the back side of the hub!
Looking at the brakes and back plate, it was pretty clear where the contact was.
On the picture at right, you see the back plate with a dull ring on the outside diameter where the paint is still intact. Then closer to the brake shoes, you see a shiny ring, that is where the rear hub was making contact.
I cleaned the whole area up, and there were metal and paint shavings all over the place. The brake shoes may be toast... but I'll try to re-use them since they are otherwise brand new.
The rear conundrum is why the rear hub was rubbing in the first place. There were supposed to be two spacer/locating "cones" on the hub. There should be one inner cone, and one outer cone. With all the parts off, I noticed that one of the cones, and one washer were missing. I'm thinking that the missing cone and washer caused the rear nut to not exert enough pressure on the rear hub. Thereby causing the hub to float on the axle, and wobble a bit. There isn't much play allowed in this area, and I'm hoping that the addition of the correct spacer cone will solve the grinding problem. Time to get the cone and find out!