8.8 E-brake set-up

[JustEmptyEveryPocket]

Noob question here, looking for some basic explanations:

 

My MJ has a Ford 8.8 rear end, and I have been working on the e-brake. At the same time, I am swapping to a 97+ XJ hand lever. Currently I have the cabling figured out, the handbrake in the cab figured out, and am down to the adjustments. Which is where the problems are. I have done the following:

1. adjusted the star wheel in the 8.8 until I can barely get the rotor on, and it has drag when I spin it (I spin it down on the drivers side and up on the passenger side. Is this correct?)
2. tightened the nut at the equalizer until the cables are taut
3. pulled the hand brake up
4. spun the rear tires to see if it is grabbing

I have repeated all these steps 3-4 times and am not getting any results. Sometimes it seems that the ebrake is grabbing if I spin the tire backwards. Other times I completely lose any feeling of drag when I spin the tire. When I gave up tonight the adjuster seemed to be getting looser, not tighter.

 

What am I missing? The only things I can think of are the initial parking brake pad adjustment followed by tightening the nut at the parking cable equalizer. So how can I tell if 

a). The pads are in enough contact with the rotor when the parking brake is NOT engaged

b). The cables at the adjuster are "tight" enough. ie: how much slack or tension should there be?

 

This is driving me crazy!

[Jeep Driver]

What are you using to adjust the cable slack?

 

Pics would be nice.