I understand that the hand brake shoes are inside the rear rotors. My hand brake works, but its weak. While I had the tire off last night as I rotated tires, I looked at the drum and there seems to be a center nut on the threaded axle that has one if its edges bent into a groove to prevent it from loosening on its own.

Do I need to remove this center nut in order for the rotor to come off so I can access the brake shoes?

Or, is there some other trick to getting the drum off? I read online here that there is some star shaped screw that can be seen inside one of the lugnut holes to adjust the shoes tension. If I loosen that will the drum just slide off? Also, that being the case can I just tighten it to make the brakes work stronger again without replacing the pads?

Thanks guys!

-=>Raja.

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1983 MB 190E, bought from Germany and shipped to the US in 1986.