Jaguar Repair: XK120 Front brake drum frozen to shoes, rear shoes, wheel cylinders

Question
Every year or two, I visit a friend, who has a 1953 XK120 in storage. I have the car on jack stands and free up the front brakes by removing the front wheels and firmly striking the drums with a brass hammer to break the bond with the shoes. This time, the LH front would not break free and I was reluctant to risk damaging the $300 drum. I cannot rotate the drum to access the adjuster. Should have thought about that last time!
Any suggestions?
Thanks: Art

Answer
Hi Art,

You might try applying heat evenly around the outside of the drum first then try the lead hammer.
The drums normally can handle a lot of heat in use so if you apply it evenly all the way around it should not harm them.

He may have a master cylinder problem too, because the shoes are not normally up tight to the drums on the front when the car is stored. I often see rear shoes stuck to drums when a hand brake is left on and stored that way.

Just to be sure it is not a hydraulic problem, open the bleeder on that wheel to see if there is any residual pressure on the wheel cylinders.

Howard