66coronetgirlie,
if your axle is the same as/similar to mine (a '69 8.75" rear end), it may not have inspection holes to get to the adjuster, mine sure as hell doesn't! everybody told me i was an idiot cuz i couldn't find the inspection holes (they'd be in the middle of the bottom half of the mounting plate and you'd only see them from behind. sometimes they have plastic plugs in them). everybody spoke on ignorance and ended up wrong
. just remembered that tid bit, which may explain the "imaginary retainer" thing....
also, after the fact, a buddy at work told me he drilled out the shoe pins from behind on his seventy-something camaro. the shoes were hung up in the rut they carved into the drum's inner surface. supposedly, disengaging the shoe retaining pins allowed him to pull the shoes out from the mounting plate inside the drum and get in with needle nosers to undo some springs. i don't know that i'd try that, or even how true that story may be to begin with, but options can be a beautiful thing.
best of luck to you, and smellyhemi as well.