Getting rear drums off

[Mastiff]

I have a rear 12-bolt axle and can't get the drum off. I must have worn a groove in it. I thought the right way to deal with this is to knock out the punch-out things to get at the adjuster. I've taken some pretty hard whacks at them and they seem totally solid. What's the trick? Or should I just try to pound and pry the drum itself off?

By the way, which punch-out (front/rear) gives access to the adjuster?

 

[Mastiff]

Are there no punchouts on the backing plate? I thought I was hitting on some, but found one on the drum itself, which came out.

 

[shaun89]

if your replacing all the hardware the stuff in there (which isnt much money) ya,just pry and hammer and stuff, just be sure not to hurt the drum unless ur getting a new one. its a bitch but u can do it, just takes a while sometimes.

 

[toomany]

Get a big three jaw puller. Works great to pull a stuck drum off.

There should be a knock-out on the bottom of the backing plate to get at the adjusters, but they may be frozen. If you plan on putting new hardware in, you can cut the heads off the anchor pins that hold the shoes to the backing plate. This will allow you to wiggle everything around to get it to pop free.