Hand Brake Problem

[HBarn752]

I'm in a bind. I'm trying to remove the hand brake drum from my 51 M38 to replace a number of springs that are worn out. Here's what I've been able to do successfully:

Drain the transfer
Remove the prop shaft flange
Remove the cotter pin, hex nut, and washer from the rear end of the transfer output shaft

According to the 9-8012 manual, I should now be able to simply pull off the companion flange along with the hand brake drum, but the drum won't budge. There's about 1/4" of play, but beyond that the drum won't back out any further. I took a blow torch to the center part companion flange and still wasn't able to remove the drum. Using a flathead screwdriver to pry off the companion flange didn't work either.

Am I missing something here? Any suggestions? Anything would be appreciated.

[wesk]

Have you adjusted the shoes inward away from the drum so they don't grab that small wear lip on the inside edge of the drum?

[artificer]

Wes may be correct....also it is not unusual [because of leakage along the splines] for an informed person to SEAL the companion flange splines to those of the output shaft.
This would make the flange difficult to remove & levering with one screwdriver won't work....try one each side or better still try using a proper puller & when loaded a good whack on the puller centre bolt might help.