smelled burning, saw smoke

My hands need all the help they can get. Kinda arthritis-ey these days
I can certainly relate to that. A good tip. Doing work on drum brakes is really easy, even if you've not done it a lot. I've done so much of it, I can tear all four down, throw it all in the same bucket and go back, BUT, that's from decades of doing it. Just do one side at the time and leave the other side together as a guide. Just remember that opposite side is a mirror image. That's how I learned it and it sticks in no time when you see what everything is doing.