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.