I haven't done as much wrenching as a whole lot of folks in this forum, but I've done my fair share over the years. Found something new to me tonight. On my new-to-me 2003 project TJ, I was inspecting the brake system because some of the wheels were hard to turn. (Bought Jeep in non-running condition - have now gotten it to run but lack of brakes and other issues mean no test drive yet.) I knew that one wheel stud was missing from the rear passenger wheel. Got the drum off tonight and the stud and the adjuster spring fell out. What really gets me is that this means the stud came loose while driving and the PO never did anything about it. The stud had been in there long enough that it had worn a significant groove in both the brake shoe and in the drum itself. I can't even imagine how awful that must have sounded driving down the road. You would surely think that between the horrible screeching sound, and the corresponding drop in fuel economy from constant drag (ok, that's probably a stretch that anybody would notice!) that somebody might have done an inspection to see what was wrong! Crazy.
