You are right, you have the dependable care Maytag, your pulley engages a cam that rides up a helix shaft and disengages the brakes. There is no adjustment for this.
Go to web site www.appliancejunk.com/forums and download the service manual for dependable care Maytag washers.
They will explain how to take apart things. There is a 200 pound tension spring in the brake housing, proceed with caution. If you replace all the brake housing screws with 8-32 screws 1 1/2 inch long, you will be able to back them off symetricaly till the spring tension is released.
This is a relatively easy job to do. You might find a frozen bearing in there.
This can all be done with the washer laying down on it's back. Good luck, they also recommend to put some oil on the brakes I guess to prevent jamming.
As a side note, most of the time with the dependable care washers, the problem is something in the top of the tub like a sock, so before doing anything I would take the top off the tub and check for something jammed in there.