I had, a few times so far, good luck in removing the rear drums from my 84
vanagon. I thought it would be a hell of effort to remove it the first time
when I realized the drums simply wouldn't move a bit.

I digged out my Vanagon's official service manual, $40 at the time when I got
my vanagon new in 84. The manual says use a puller. Hum....

It did not take me too long to figure out what it meant. I digged out my $5 
puller and screwed in a few wheel lugs so that the puller has something to pull
from. Hey, it worked. I also discovered that what held the drums so tight was
really the brake shoes. I had to adjust the star wheels to pull the shoes in
to put the drums back.

David

71 Beetle, 73 Super Beetle, 83 Westfalia, 84 Vanagon GL.