Parking Brake

[73stang]

New to Medium Duty trucks...trucks period. Well, I have a 1992 Topkick (6.0 engine) whose parking brake has been adjusted to its maximum and isn't holding when applied, so I decided to put new shoes on it. This hasn't been much fun in the cold of North Dakota anyway, I've gotten the drive shaft dropped, drum off, yoke removed and the four bolts that seem to hold the "brake plate" (don't know the terminology for it) on to the rear of the automatic transmission removed. Problem is the "brake plate" doesn't want to move and all of the pins that hold the linkage together won't budge even with the cotter keys removed. I am assuming (horrible word I know) there is a trick out there to do this since it seems like this plate has to come off to put the new linings on. What do I need to do...use brute force on the plate to get it to come off the back of the transmission or??? What about the linkage pins...rusted in place or do they maybe screw in to the connectors and the cotter key keeps them from unscrewing????? Any help would be appreciated.