I am attempting to replace some broken lug nuts and am trying to remove the brake drum.  I removed the 4 bolts on the drum.  It still won't come off.  My Chiltons manual says to spray the hub with penetrating oil.  If that doesn't work it says there is a way to retract the shoes.  I can't figure out how to do what they are suggesting.  Any ideas on how to remove them?  Also what are your thoughts on driving with 3 of 5 lugs nuts on one rear wheel?  This would be a temprorary situation.  A day or two at most.

Use a brake drum adjusting tool or a flat head screw driver to retract the shoes. If you look at the back of the backing plates you'll see two rubber plugs. Pop them off and go to work... Personaly I use a BFH and tap the face of the drum lightly and off it comes. I drove my old Jeep around with three lugs for over 2 years.
Wouldn't recommend doing that!!!!!

Take off your E-brake  I don't have any rubber plugs on the back of my 95 backplate :-/
When I have to adjust my rears (self adjusting my foot) I have to take my drum off.

Take off your E-brake  I don't have any rubber plugs on the back of my 95 backplate :-/
When I have to adjust my rears (self adjusting my foot) I have to take my drum off.

my adjusters don't work at all either.

 Funny enough, try whacking the drum face with a BFH, a short handled one, like a 3.5 or 6 pounder. After a couple of hard but slow hits, you'll notice that it is starting to move. There it is. It isn't frozen because of the shoes, it's because of the end of the axle shaft.

Put the wheel back on and give it a couple of good kicks. That usually does the trick  

Ya, I use the wheel trick when I
don't have a slidehammer at the
wrecking yard (the breakers to Rhino)


Wild

PS Rhino hows the EFI coming ?

PS Rhino hows the EFI coming ?

Been stalled for a while   the house move took up a lot of time, only got my PC set up properly again over the w/e. Need to get the R&Ps and steel front axle all sorted and fitted and then I'm going to get back to it. Its a bit of a rainy day project though. If its warm and sunny who wants to be sat in front of a PC eh?

I stopped by Midas this morning.  Their guy got the drum off by pounding it with a BFH.  They didn't have the studs on hand so they put the one that I had bought previously in.  Now I am back to four of five studs.  At least now I know how to do it and can do the other one myself.  On the down side he confirmed that I do need new brakes

I'd suggest that you scrape the axle flange end and the hole in the drum with sandpaper to remove the rust. THen apply some antiseize on the axle flange end.