Turned out that he had a manual, but he's not much of a car guy and he was struggling to understand what he was reading. One look at the schematic drawing of the rear end told the tale - The backing plate bolts to the axle housing just like they do today, but the wheel studs go through the brake drum, then press into the axle flange, pinching the drum onto the back of the axle. To access the brakes one must pull the back cover from the differential, pull the "C" clips, and pull the axle/drum over the shoes. One of those early designs that improved in '36, I think.
I had suggested to him that if it rolled free going into the garage then a few raps of a big hammer might free it up enough to roll. His "big hammer" was a 16oz framing hammer, but after a couple of raps at the bottom the drum moved a bit. After about a dozen sharp hits on the edge of the flange, toward the differential it rotated easier. He was needing to get the sedan out of the new shop space, over into the garage so that he can finish the floor in the new shop. We tried to get it to light off, but ended up pushing it over with a garden tractor.
He bought this bone stock '34 Chevy sedan a year ago, thinking that he would do a quick tune up on it and have a fun car to drive around. He was quickly dismayed to find that it doesn't drive "nice", the springs are not springy, the mechanical brakes are questionable, etc, etc. The car is a survivor, and truthfully is too good to be cut up for a hot rod, or even resto-rodded, but as it is today it's not much use to him. What he needs is a nice mid-60's muscle car. That's his speed!