Smoking rear brake?
 

Any thoughts on a,long story short, rear driver side wheel that goes fine in reverse but the brake smokes after driving normally. It's like it's not moving or is stuck while in drive, but rolls perfectly in reverse on the one wheel. I know this because I got stuck in my yard the other day.

Take your tires and wheels off and inspect the brakes.

Welcome to the forum

+1 on above.

Pull off the wheel and then the brake drum, something has come loose or broken in that brake system.

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So I pulled off the hub. The brake pads were pressed against the walls of the cover thing pretty good. Also noticed the studs aren't freely moving. Should this be? Maybe the bearings on this wheel are the problem?

So the drum came off easily, you didn't have to back off the shoes using the Star Wheel?

And inside was dry, no leaking brake fluid or differential oil?


Assuming trans is in neutral, axle won't turn easily because it is connected to differential and drive shaft.

But it certainly could be bad bearing on that axle.
You need to drain differential and remove the cover, then remove the "C" clip from that axle.
You can then pull out the axle and replace bearing and seal.