I haven't done drum brakes ever but I'm faced with these drum brakes where
I'd just like to ask a couple of questions from those of you who have done
drum brakes before.

1. I released the parking brake from the cabin and screwed these 2-inch
long metric 8mm x 1.25mm threads bolts to pull the drum off the shoes.
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=5687240drum_brakes_0.jpg

2. After blowing the dust out (and not breathing it in), I could see that
the front shoe was worn down to about a millimeter or less (after 175K
miles), so I'm going to have to buy new shoes and replace them.
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=3478506drum_brakes_1.jpg

3. I measured the drum to be 2mm smaller than the maximum diameter:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=9335528drum_brakes_2.jpg

4. Where the maximum diameter of 297mm was stamped on the drum itself:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=9428041drum_brakes_3.jpg

5. It was hard to get the drum back on even with the parking brake released
from the cabin, so I had to use a mallet to bang it back on:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=2434045drum_brakes_4.jpg

The main question is whether I'm supposed to *disconnect* the cable for the
parking brake when working on the drums, and particularly when I put the
new shoes on after I buy them.

Also, only one shoe is worn, and it's the front shoe, and it's been on
there for 175K miles, but I wonder if the shoes can be switched, so that
the front shoe is in the rear and the rear shoe is in the front, since they
wore so unevenly (sort of like rotating tires).

But mainly I'm not sure what the procedure is for the parking brake cable.
Can you advise?