No, if what you are referring to is the pivot pins, they are cylindrical with one small groove in the end, if I recall correctly, they have a retainer clip on the end. These are often seized to the backer plate, and usually the end peels off when you heat and or apply force to remove. On the install, you can apply some anti-seize to the pivot pin, might prevent it seizing again. I drove mine out, also applied some heat. As I recall, its hard to get a tool to drive it and hammer from one side, not enough room. I forget how I did these, but they all peeled off the end, I replaced each one on both sides.
Drums can be a pain to remove, but with no brakes, and as long as the brake shoe is not tight against it, a hard rubber or similar mallet, used around the circumference of the drum ought to work it free. Its hard to figure what holds these up sometimes if the brake lining is not tight up against it, as if the adjuster was tightened to the max., but with persistence it will or should come off.
The drum type brakes on these are relatively easy to repair, I did a complete job on my 850 in '04, as my brakes were not very good, and I think I had $200 or so in it with new drums, internal parts and brake pads. Once you get the drum off, take a photo before taking it apart, so you can refer to it if need be and get the manuals, parts and shop manual for the tractor One side and I believe its left if sitting in the seat has one less spring.
Another thing that comes to mind is the end of the brake pedal shaft that comes through the backer plate, is that the ends often get worn on these, and need to be built up to tolerance, with some care, too little, not right, too much, the cam/lobe type action will push against the back of the brake shoe too hard, there is a happy medium. One side on my tractor I got perfect, the other side I could not the pedal and or shoe hangs up sometimes. I built that up by stick welding, does not take much, then ground flat, brake works fine, but it does hang up a little.
If these are worn, you just won't get that pedal to apply enough pressure to the shoe, to compress it to the drum well enough to stop or perform as it should.
There are felt seals along the backer plate and if the backer plate is not rusted away on the bottom, those just pack right in, if they are not 100%, you may have gaps, like mine, I did not replace the backer plate.
If you have oil, from the differential, leaking past the axle trumpet, its likely the axle seal is bad, the pads will get glazed over or oil soaked. To replace that seal, I'd ask on the Ford forum here, theres a few tricks to know about getting the old seal, retainer etc, out. Something worth learning about before you struggle with doing it, its a bit of a job, but not the most difficult thing to do on one of these tractors, but must be done if it leaks. Brakes were marginal on these, but I found that once mine were in good order, it was a heck of a lot safer on the hills I work on, and it does stop quite well when the brakes are adjusted correctly and working as they should.
OEM drums are of better quality, I did replace mine with drums of turkish manufacture and it took some "horsing" when stuck one time to fracture one, so I put the OEM one back on. Drums were thicker too, and the pair was shipped to my door from nnalert for less than $60.00 if I recall. I think they are fine for average use, but they certainly are not of the same material as OEM, so do not toss those for any reason.
