Astro 2001 tough brake problem.

This Astro Safari has ABS brakes and the ABS service light was on but now it went off on its own and I don't know why yet. The main problem is the emergency/parking doesn't work. This Astro came from Florida and rust is not the problem. The cable seems to have come loose from the shoe in the driver's side rear wheel. The cable is hanging down and the emergency brake mechanism has no load on it, of course. My problem is that I can't for the life of me get the drum off. I have seen this problem before, so on my vehicles I clean the axle where the wheel fits on and I keep that area greased so it doesn't rust and lock together. I have beat on this one with no effect. I even made a sort of double ended clip out of 3/16" x 2.5" wide steel plate, about 9" long, that I can catch the drum at the gap between the drum and the backing plate, and the clip has another bend at the front that I can get the curved end of a crowbar, (yes, a crowbar) behind it. The curve of the Crowbar rides in the hollow head of the axle. Using this clip I can pull the drum away from the backing plate at any point around the circumference of the drum, so you can see that the shoes are not holding the drum, and yes its a bit scary, but after messing with this on and off for a few days, I am getting a bit desperate. I have used everything except an Acetelyne torch. Oh Yes, I did back the adjusting screw all the way off with a brake tool through the slot in the backing plate to make sure the brake shoes were not holding the drum. I also wonder if anyone makes a wheel puller to do this? If anyone has solved this problem?, I sure would appreciate you sharing your solution. My brother lives in a hilly area here in Pennsylvania and we need to use parking brakes, and after all the parking pawl in an automatic transmission is not all that heavy duty to begin with as most of you probably know.

A liberal dose of penetrating oil (not WD40) and a torch to break the rust at the hub flange can work to free the drum. You will have to apply penetrating oil after the hub cools, and it may take several heat/cool cycles to break free, but I've had success with that on much older axles in the salty midwest.

Thanks Bowtie for the reply,

Its embarassing to tell you how easily I just removed it basically using your method. I just used a MAPP gas torch which is much hotter than the Propane torch I tried yesterday, to take it right off, after messing with it on and off for two days. I kept heating the flat areas between the bolts and working my way around the drum. I had it off in about 4 or 5 minutes. It was an embarrassment, but now I can blame it on senility. The MAPP torch heated it so fast I could see the seam opening up and it worked well enough that you wouldn't even need to use Liquid wrench etc. Now I can fix the emergengy brake cable. (I have a hunch now that the fuel system problem on this vehicle is going to be humbling also.)

If you want to prevent this kind of episode in the future, apply anti-seize compound to the flange before installing the drum. "Paint" on a layer of anti-seize and install the drum, and just back off the shoes and pull it off next time. I do the same on the back faces of alloy wheels because of the dissimilar metals and potential erosion issues. My wife accuses me of putting anti-seize on my pancakes. I have to admit, the little sparkles floating in the maple syrup are pretty cool...

Someone else just told me to use Anti-Seize and that never occured to me, because on my vehicles I always cleaned and greased them and never had a problem getting wheels off. Using Anti-Seize behind alloy wheels is an excellent idea. I don't have alloy wheels but I know a lot of people that do. That is a good idea for them. Thanks. I do use Anti-Seize for a lot of other applications.