So I've been pulling my hair out searching the web for a little jewel of info, and it should be a plain as day answer. Maybe I'm just not using the right terms.

Are the rear drums inboard or outboard? (98.5, 2500, 5.9L (360)- 4x4)

Quick explanation for the unknowing;
The dana 60 is a full floating axle. Inboard means taking the whole hub assembly off to get to the shoes.
Out board means the drum is sandwiched between the rim and hub, and will usually come off with a little persuasion (bfh or other tricks) without taking a lot of stuff apart.

The Chilton book only shows the brakes for the 1500 (semi floating axle: outboard drums), and I think the service manual showed the same. I get distracted easily when looking at it so I might have missed something.

This question comes about because I don't feel like pulling a tire off to see exactly what's there, and to add some info (hopefully) for anyone searching in the future.

 

All you need to do is pull off the drum. With that said that's the hard part. I had to make a puller to get mine off because the shoes wore a groove in the drum and it wouldn't release even with backing them off.

 

+1 - drums simply pull off after removing the wheel. I typically take a hammer and whack around the studs to help break loose rust and help free them after being on the hub forever.

As an FYI, later model 2nd gen Dana 60 rears (I believe from 2000 on) have disc brakes.

 

Thanks for the info. Makes life easier, and hopefully anyone else looking in the future can find this easily.

From what I've seen, late model 01s on had disc rears. Maybe some earlier trucks had them, but I haven't seen any personally.

A little trick I learned years ago from an old timer for popping outboard drums loose...
Jack the rear up and support it very well, and chock the front. Take the tires off and thread one lug nut back on about halfway on each side. Start it up and put it into gear, speed up to about 20 mph. Jab the brakes hard or hit the parking brake if your main brakes don't work well. Usually once forward and once reverse will pop them loose and save a lot of cussing.
The one lug nut keeps the drum from flying down the road, out the door, through the wall, or whatever else gets in its way when it spins off.

I've only had that trick fail once. Truck had sat in a flash flood, then under sand from said flood for several years. Guy decided to get it running, but it won't move.
You guessed it, the rear (and front) brakes were full of stuff. After jacking it up and hosing a bunch of stuff out they would spin. Chemicals overnight and the trick above got one side. The other side wound up getting torched off. Nothing would move it. That was a fun job at the ripe old age of 14. Lol