Block the front wheels and jack up your rear axle.
Take off the wheels and then the drums.
Unhook the top two springs from the center pin, and then spread the shoes apart to get the bar out.
Re-hook the two springs exactly as they were after ensuring that the brake pistons are seated in the wheel cylinder and on the shoe.
Put on the drums and then the wheels. (Note: shoes must be contacting the center pin for the drum to fit back on.)
All that mentioned above will take roughly 45 minutes (That's assuming you've never had drum brakes apart before, and that the springs don't give you much fuss.)
To then find out if your e-brake cables are suspect, you will need to further disassemble the brakes by taking off the REAR shoe. Driver or passenger side matters not, as the e-brake ALWAYS hooks into the REAR shoe.
Once you have it off, then you can take some vice grips and clamp down on the ferrule (metal thing on the end of the brake cable) and have someone work the e-brake pedal as you see if the cable even moves back and forth. If not, or just barely, then your e-brake sheath is shot.
Also, if your brake drums are hard to get off, and you find out that there is a deep groove worn into the drum, and you see that the brake shoes are not butted up against the center pin (the one where the springs attach, just above the wheel cylinder) when you do get the drum off...
Then MOST LIKELY, your cables are shot. (That is how I figured out mine were toast.)
