[oragex]

The handbrake cables have a small rubber seal where they enter the drums. This seal usually cracks/fails allowing water to sip inside the cable jacket causing corrosion and wear inside. This would weaken sensibly the cable pulling strength.

As already mentioned, it may be tricky to remove the drums if they are old, I prefer releasing as much as I can the adjusting screw at the handbrake lever (undo the small trim underneath to expose). If the drum still doesn't want to slide out, it's because it has build a lip of rust that prevent the shoes to slide sideways to allow the drum to come out. What keeps the shoes in place are two springs (top and bottom) not too big, so it may become a matter of gorilla force to have these springs fail and free the shoes/drum - notice the shoes are still attached to the cable but should move out enough to be able to free the drum at that point. Of course new springs are needed - come with the shoes kit. I used a piece of wood inserted between the suspension and the drum lip to punch the drum out this way. Remember to replace the springs any way when forcing to remove the drums. These springs are very funny to remove from their socket, the way they hook in there: they need be pressed down while rotating them.