Welcome to the Stovebolt Babbyalton,
I'm not too far from you either. And SWEET is an awesome mechanic. He knows a thing or two about all of our old trucks, but a LOT about the 51!
I've had the drum issue many times before. Not sure on the 51, but on my later version, you can also remove the top pivot bolt (not its real name, I am sure) and/or remove the bolts for the wheel cylinder from behind the backing plate. The issue for me has usually been that the shoes rust solid to the drum or they have created a channel in the drum that makes them near impossible to pull off the normal way. Since yours spin, that's probably what you're dealing with. My star adjusters (the thing Chris wants you to turn with the spoon) were both frozen solid with rust as well. Removing the cylinder bolts will let the guts fall into the drum and the whole thing should come off.
If that fails, SWEET and I can come over with a bigger hammer...
-Jim
