Front Brake For a Dummy

I must be a idiot because I cannot get my front brake arm, cable, and lever properly adjusted to apply the front brake.



Here is what is happening: When I pull the front brake lever, the cable pulls on the brake arm, but the lever does not spring back open when released. Adjustment of the cable at the front brake hub from limit to limit does not fix the problem. Adjustment at the lever does not fix the problem.



Now to compound and confuse the situation, I didn't intend to remove the arm from the spline, but did. I have monkeyed with trying to properly index it to no avail. I have searched my pre-disassembly photos and other photos of front brakes to estimate the index, also to no avail.



The cable appears to be in good working order with no excessive wear or breaks. The shoes are good and the pads are within operating specs.



The brake arm engages the spline well and when pulled upward by hand turns the spline and reaches its stop limit upon spreading the shoes.



I hope that given the mess described above, you guys can talk me through indexing the front brake arm and setting the cable.



Thanks