98 Dodge Dakota - Manual Xmission.
My son had the truck last winter in freezy weather. He said the parking brake wouldn't come loose normally so after a while he pulled on the release HARD. In the process the brake released and probably pulled the sheathing up or broke the release. Since then the release doesn't catch when the brake is enagaged - it has to be pushed up/engaged while the brake is pressed.

Since then I've been engaging the parking brake by pushing down on the pedal and holding in the release lever. Not the optimal solution but it seemed to work until this morning.

This morning I noticed the brake was constantly on -- the truck wouldn't roll back freely. I took both wheels off - the right drum came off fine. I couldn't get the left drum off -- pounded it a bit but didn't want to damage anything more, or crack the drum.
What's the next step?
THanks

 

Did you confirm that the emergency brake cable is relaxed ?
Any tension on the cable will keep the emergency brake applied.

If the tension is off..... you'll need a small screwdriver and a brake adjusting spoon.

The yellow line is a slot that is on the back of the brake mounting plate. There should be a rubber plug in it.

You would push the B arm in with the screwdriver so that it doesn't touch the adjuster wheel and then turn A with the brake spoon to collapse the adjustment rod allowing the drum to come off.

 

Can you turn the drum by hand? Sound like parking brake cable is frozen, Can be a real pain to release. Sometimes if you hit cable with a hammer it will release enough to get drum off. Do not crush cable. Do not put it against something hard and hit it. If cable is frozen it will need to be replaced. Do what PJMax said and release adjuster all the way.

 

Very late followup
Cable on left side was stretched and had to be replaced
Now it's loose again. The bracket that holds the parking brake cable and brake line has broken loose from the rusty frame.
Can I drill a hole thru the bracket and frame to reattach it? Or will that screw up the frame?
Seems like a rusty frame isn't a good thing either