Help! Emergency brake trouble

[Gibsonvair]

I've had the rear suspension and brakes completely apart and rebuilt. Late model. I have a swap meet cross-over cable and a new Clark's handle to equalizer cable. The problem is that the front cable wont reach the rear cable without the tension applying the brakes. The Clark's cable is the same length as the old frayed one and the swap meet part also seems the same length.
Steve Gibson

[UNSAFE]

If the cables are the same length you can eliminate them as the problem.

So it must be something inside the brake drum or the routing of the cable to the handle.

I'd make sure the cable is fully into the handle and over the pulleys properly first.

If that's OK it must be inside the drum. Not sure offhand what could it might be. I have disk brakes but I still use the factory E-brake cables.

How much does it lack from reaching ?