I'll start from the beginning:

I have a 2001 XLT Off Road Ranger.

I knew I needed shoes on the back but pushed them as far as I could since I hate doing drum brakes.

Here's the kicker, my girlfriend drove it and used the emer brake that has never been used. It seized on. I drove the truck for a while not knowing that the emer brake was semi on. Until I had the window open one day at a stop light and smelt brakes. Sure enough it was mine.

I have since disconnected the emer brake line and I can move it and hear the parts moving inside the drum. Yet still the driverside drum heats up big time to the point that after 5 or 10 km you can hardly touch it.

It get's better, I cannot remove the drum and the adjuster seems to be stuck or seized.

Any tricks on how to remove the drum??

Thanks, Drew.

 

Sometimes the shoes wear into the drums a bit and it becomes necessessary to back off the self adjuster. Perhaps you can get to the threaded portion of the self adjuster after removing the rubber plug (I do assume it has one) and hit it with some WD-40. Sometimes beating on the drum with a rubber mallet will force the ridge in the drum over the brake shoe and you can get the drum off that way.

 

Be very careful spraying wd40 in the drum, you don't want to get any on the drum/shoes unless your going to clean/replace them.

 

Grab a small flashlight and a thin screwdriver and a adjuster tool( a bigger scewdriver will work) Try and line yourself up with the hole and shine the light in there. You will need to use the small screwdriver to push the adjuster arm off the star wheel. Then use the bigger screwdriver to back off the adjuster.

 

Alright, i have a 99 3.0 ranger, and one night i put on my E brake and the next day it was locked up, back right wheel, it wouldn't budge, so i jacked the car up one day, took the wheel off, and tryed pulling the drum off, nothing, it was stuck, so my father and we beat on the drum with a hammer while pulling on it, "since they're very very strong".
we used screw drivers to help pry it off after it was knocked loose with the hammer. It turns out that it had rusted together, so i sanded down the inside of the drum and lubricated the E-brake mechanism on both wheels and it hasn't had a problem since

hopefully that will help you out, and if it is attack that thing with a hammer

Ryan

 

if the e-brake cables are stuck i'd just cut(cable cutters work well) them off right before the drum and replace them when doing the shoes. you might have weak return springs too i usually buy a spring kit when doing a brake job since they only cost about $15.

 

Ended up having to cut the back left drum off with an airpowered Die Grinder from the Girlfriend's '99 yesterday. The right side adjusting screw broke in 1/2 earlier in the day demanding a brake job be done. When we tried to get the left drum off to do that side it would NOT come off. We backed the adjuster off as far as possible and the e-brake was off and no matter what the shoes would not move inward enough to get the drum off. Hammer, screwdrivers, nothing. Had to cut it. Oh well whast another $35 to have nice new drums on each side, lol.