Dodge Repair: 1998 Voyager Rear Wheels Locked Up, plymouth grand voyager, friction material

Question
The rear wheels on my 1998 Plymouth Grand Voyager have locked up. If I jack it up, the wheels rotate about 5 degrees or so. If I have someone apply the brakes they don't move at all. Same with the emergency brake. After release, they rotate about 5 degrees again. Watching from underneath, the emergency brake cable goes back and forth when applied and released. When I look in the inpection port, I see movement of the cable up and down past the port. I have tried to take the drum off, but have not had any luck. Since I have owned the car (5 years), I have replaced the front pads and rotors a few times, but have not touched the rear brakes. Any suggestions? Thanks, Mark

Answer
The rear wheel cylinders leak alot on this model but rarely have I seem them cause rear wheel lock-up.  You MIGHT have run these completely down to the rivots which can cause all sorts of exciting driving conditions.

On a good day you have take a 5LB hammer and smack the tar out of the drum to jar it loose.  On a bad day you will have to go on the back side and actually loosen up the adjuster and then use the hammer again.

What's probably happened here is the friction material has seperated from the backing plates or the shoes have worn out.  This is causing a lock up.  The tough part is going to be getting the adjuster to back up because of it's design.  With one hand you will need to use a small flat-blade screwdriver to push the ratchet locking arm away from the star wheel.  With the second hand you will need to use another flatblade screwdriver to actually spin the star wheel.  This will move the shoes inward giving you enough room to remove the drum.  With your third hand you will need to hold a flashlight that will actually project light in to the drum so you can see what you're doing. :)
Doug