Did you try hitting the sides of the drum with a large rubber mallet as you walk the drum off? My drums have small lips on them, but if I back the star adjustor off and hit the sides of the drum as I walk it off, it will come off.

i will try tapping on the drums as i walk them off. But i am unable to move the star adjuster.

It is very annoying.

yes..after every bit of inching, hammer it around so the shoes return to their rest position..I use a standard hammer....also rotate the drum a little back and forth

the rest position is against the drum. This is the first reason i wanted to take the drums off. The left side was engaged most of the time and only got worse.

But i will try tapping and moving so more, but without being able to move my star adjuster i am left with little choice.

I am considering just opening a hole in the front so i can clean and have better access to the adjuster. Then if i still can't move it in then rip the face off. It's not my first choice in drum removal but if it is my only one then i will have to do it.

After all the time i have spent to see no results it is annoying.

I just hope the other side is much easier in removal.

will let you know what happens.

I have pulled a few sets of drums from the Sportages in the bone yard when I was hunting for a rear differential. Once I maxed out the drum's movement with the screws, I ended up using a pry bar to walk the drums off the rest of the way, with no damage to the back plate, drum or shoes. If all else fails, that approach should work. Another method would be to use the 2 screws (or bolts) to attach a slide hammer. But I'd be fearful of the threads on the drum being damaged, should the screws/bolts pull out from the force of the slide. One way or another, you'll get that drum off... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />

finally some luck. well more like determination.

I tried all the different ways but to no avail.

So out came the angel grinder with a cutting disk. I cut into the top front of the drum. The cut was about 20mm high and about 100mm long(a guess..haven't measured). It was directly in front of the wheel cylinder, but i was still able to access the star adjuster. I used a small screw driver to hold the locking piece out of the way and the biggest screw driver that would fit into the grooves and levered it loose. Took about 10 seconds to get it moving, but once moving it was able to pick up the lube i sprayed on the thread ahead of it. Then it was just a matter of unscrewing it until the pads came back far enough to walk the drums off with the bolts.

The lip was huge. I think it was a good 3-4mm.

But i dont still know why it grabbed. I hope it was failing springs. They weren't hard to get off.

So now i need to finish the job and do the other side to be done. I hope the other side is a lot easier.

I will post a pic of the hole i cut and the assembled brake parts later. That way if anyone else has this much trouble they might be able to carefully do the same.