parking brake
 

OK, I need to get rid of the stock parking brake pedal assembly because its totally worn out.
I saw a car today that had a pull handle between the left end of the seat and the door.
Anyone ever done something like this?
Pictures would be appreciated.

Re: parking brake
 

The cab I bought had no brake hardware, so I remembered Grampa's 65 Chevy truck under the dash handle. Made a plate on the firewall to hold the cable that does go to discs in the rear, but the old hardware would've been impossible to adapt for my newer suspension. Worked out better for me.

Re: parking brake
 

I've got the foot park brake out of I'm thinking a 74 Pontiac Catalina in my 48 but just about any foot park brake from a 70's or early 80's GM full size or truck up to 87 shoudl work. I've got mine rather high up because I put it above the speaker box but it would be just like in the donor rig if you mounted it right.

This is one out of a 73/87 Chevy.GMC truck, Super easy to find with the cable with it an it shouldn't be spendy and you can snag the extra pieces off the donor.

If I am thinking right they just used the pull handle out of a bucket seat donor car. That may or may not be the easiest to climb over if if it is on the outside of the seat. Slick looking but maybe not that practical.

Re: parking brake
 

there is the electrically operated linear actuator style, like newer cars have. just a button on the dash. there is probably a kit out there somewhere. I think there are a few fellas with the s10 foot operated style and, if memory serves, the cable exits forward and slightly down. if you're looking for something that could fit between the seat and the door, without opening a new butt crack for you each time to exit, maybe an older ford econiline style that is either laid flat when off or fully vertical when on. it could be a pain to apply /release in that area though
https://partsavatar.ca/dorman-hd-sol...BoCdiAQAvD_BwE
jeep has a pedal assy that exits downward if that interests you
https://www.amazon.ca/Adjustable-Eme.../dp/B0C53TYKWV

Re: parking brake
 

I used the stock one out of the 84 GMC Sierra Classic in the 54 cab. Fit and Works fine but pedal comes up way high and can set it by hand which is a minor problem. Did have to add a additional return spring to keep rears from occasional dragging.

Re: parking brake
 

some newer venicles have the push to apply-push again to release pedal system. that would eliminate the need for a release handle, which can add bandaids to the knee sometimes.
I have a hand brake between the seats in my build

Re: parking brake
 

Recent experience with factory installed electric emergency brakes has left me with doubts. Our fancy new Mazda cx-9 has them. They destroyed rears as it caused them to rub resulting in a $600 repair. Still hashing it out with them but seems mechanicals still may be a better choice.

Re: parking brake
 

yeah, I'm also not a fan of them but to each their own. I was just giving options. a good return spring on the actuator would be a requirement from my perspective.

Re: parking brake
 

mr48chev:
I like the one out of an 80's gm. that may be a possibility. If I mount one under the dash, I prefer one with a release handle. Makes hill starts with a 4 spd easier.
As far as a floor mounted handle, Ive got a 3rd row seat out of an Astro van. Fits good and is comfortable. I have about 5" between the door and the edge of the seat. So a floor mounted handle may work.
Thanks for all the ideas.

Re: parking brake
 

I used a foot brake from a 90's GM pickup. released with the original 1952 release rod cut down.

Attachment 2294412

To get the cable to exit where I wanted it I had to rotate the assembly and to get full travel on the pedal I had to shorten it and cut a pie wedge to rotate it. So it has lost some leverage and you have to push a bit firmer but it works fine.

Here is a shot of it mocked up on the inner cowl panel before that got welded in.
Attachment 2294411

Re: parking brake
 

Nobody asked but I wanted to share this

Shortening ebrake cables has always been a problem. You can buy adjustable ends with grub screws. but for me these have never held. You can use saddle clamps, but that looks pretty 'farmer'. Years ago I was into building dune buggies and shortened the cables by silver soldering, but perhaps 1 attempt in 2 would fail when you put some strain on it, it was tedious and expensive.

For my 1952 I made adjusters from old 3 speed trans shift lever adjusters, drilled them out , cut a three notches and brazed the cable into the notches.
Attachment 2294423

man did that ever work well! Here I tried trying to break a test piece made with a single brazed notch. The fulcrum is the bottom of the vice jaw and I could put everything I had into the end of the crowbar and it held.
Attachment 2294424

Re: parking brake
 

I live in Calgary and have done as LG has before out of necessity but now I know there are a few places that make custom park brake cables, stainless braided brake hoses, etc. Greenline hose in calgary, possibly other hydraulic hose shops in your area also.

Re: parking brake
 

i've run my truk without a parking brake for 13 years. i keep thinking about installing one and would probably use a handle to the left of the seat like you saw. my console would need a total redo and redesign to mount in the middle.

Re: parking brake
 

if you have rear drum style brakes then the park brake mechanism is part of the brake shoe adjustment so I would advise to keep it in that case. depending on local authorities it may also be required to pass inspection should you need one of those done.

Re: parking brake
 

Nice job. I would love to do that on mine.

Re: parking brake
 

for the between seat and door option, two ideas:

generic forklift park brakes. The ones I'm thinking of rotate a full 90 degrees between off (down) and on (vertical). The end of the knob rotates to adjust the cable tension so that over centering affect works.
If you have room between seat and door to reach it and located it so the up/on position lines up with the seat back it would not be in your way getting in and out

you could also use a straight pull brake lever like was used on some older vehicles (late 70's toyota pickups are one I know for sure). pulls straight out from dash, twist end to release. It could be mounted for a vertical pull beside seat back

Re: parking brake
 

Yeah, forgot about the Toyota style ones. The forklift style is one I posted a link for. Same kinda deal as some old econoline Van's had, as well as a lot of cabover 2 ton city deliver
Style trucks

Re: parking brake
 

sorry, missed your link. That picture looks incomplete?

The cheapest source right now might be military surplus, same sort of thing was in many purpose built military vehicles

Attachment 2295179

Re: parking brake
 

i was gonna say that lokar has a nice brake lever until i saw they want $250 for it. yowza!

google hotrod brake lever, this little beauty popped up for $39


https://www.summitracing.com/parts/a...xoCKWgQAvD_BwE

Re: parking brake
 

The wrecking yards are full of those hand brakes for pocket change. I had one out of a Mustang II in my T bucket in the 70's and that style is pretty much a copy of the Vega or MII unit.

Re: parking brake
 

I still think the 80's GM brake set up may be the best. Has worked for me for almost 24 year and just used it again 5 minutes ago. Reshaping the brake arm is nice but optional. IIRC it was an easy bolt in deal and free as well. Again the only issue i had was adding the additional return spring. The small AD cabs limit space to point it seems like the only option other than an electric which i do not trust. Speaking of which, the original brake in my 54 was worn and unreliable. Not sure of others experiences but mine often slipped even when carefully set leading to some real problems -some of which were both costly and dangerous.

Re: parking brake
 

I used the parking brake assembly from the S10 I salvaged.

When the outer cowl panel was being replaced, I welded a metal plate (18 guage) with 3 nuts to the back side of the kick panel for strength.

For the release lever, I made a rod and welded a handle to it, and capped the ends with 2 plastic plugs. (see pic)

Unfortunately, I mounted it too far back, as I sometimes hit it when getting into or out of the truck. My suggestion, mount is as far forward as possible.

Also, for an intermediate cable, buy a cable that is too long for your needs, and set it up with the front cable and the rear 2 cables. Mark the cable where it needs to be cut, and weld a 'glob' on to the end to make an 'end' that will fit into the 'union' between 1 of the rear cables and the intermediate cable. (see pic, sorry its blurry)

Hope this helps

Re: parking brake
 

Nice set up. I can see how release might get in way. AD cabs are tiny and every inch valuable.

Re: parking brake
 

That s10 unit looks more compact for pedal swing, but it is surprisingly thick.
The 99-06 GM unit I used is about half as thick. This may not be an issue depending if you need room for a clutch pedal

Here is a shot to compare to the s10 unit (sorry it is fuzzy, all I could find from the right angle)

Attachment 2295448

Re: parking brake
 

Yes, the S10 brake assembly is certainly not attractive, but it works. (and the price was right)

Re: parking brake
 

ok, thanks for all the input. The pedals mounted to the left of the clutch seem like they would block the air vent but it may be a possibility.
So far I'm liking the one from Summit racing or that style. Seems like it would be the easiest to mount either between the door and the end of the seat. Another possibility is to mount it on the floor to the left of the shift, but that may be a bit too much of a reach.
So now the investigation begins. Wish me luck.

Re: parking brake
 

depending on your setup, look at mounting the lever sideways in front of the seat.

Re: parking brake
 

I've been following this thread knowing it won't be long before I'll have to solve the parking brake problem myself. Have thought about doing just the setup you mention Ogre. Seems very practical.
I'm saving the inner cowl side for fuse panel and don't have floor shift so don't want lone brake lever in middle of floor (4L60 gets in the way too). Stock bench seat means not much room between seat and door. Would be helpful if anyone has implemented this idea and had info/pics to share.

Re: parking brake
 

some older city delivery cab over style trucks used a hand lever style park brake that sat in the door opening about where the seat back would be, bolted to floor. brake on=lever straight up, brake off = lever horizontal. could do the same idea with a hand brake from a center console style vehicle I suppose.
the toyota style straight out pull type could be more easily hidden under the lip of the dash but easily accessible. only the T handle would be seen unless the brake is on.

Re: parking brake
 

ogre: thanks for the idea of mounting the handle parallel to the seat. That may work well.
My first thought is to mount it to the left of the seat. Then run the cable thru the floor and back to the left end of the cross rod (?). That way the cable would pull equally on both rear brakes. But with mounting the handle in front of the seat I would just have to add a pully on the left frame rail.

Re: parking brake
 

keep in mind that it is a parking brake, not an emergency brake. one cable going to one caliper is good for a parking brake.

Re: parking brake
 

So what is the difference between a parking brake and an emergency brake and how could you justify not having an emergency brake?
'never needed one so far' would be a weak justification for omitting a safety feature every vehicle built since the '30s has had.

Re: parking brake
 

parking and emergency brakes are both an auxilliary brake system seperate from the service brake system. they are the same thing but if you use it when parking, to take strain off the auto trans park pin or because you drive a standard and need the extra peace of mind, then it is called a park brake. it can also be used in an emergency to help slow the vehicle should the service brakes fail. then it would be called an emergency brake. different manufacturers call it different things but just know the system may slow the vehicle and eventually come to a stop if used in an emergency, depending on the situation with vehicle weight and incline of the roadway, but it will likely not stop anything like the service brake would. they normally only work with the rear wheel brakes but some larger vehicles (like dual wheeled delivery trucks that use hydraulic brakes instead of air brakes) use a driveshaft brake for this. on regular vehicles the rear drum brakes are used and applied with the park brake. on vehicles with rear disc brakes some systems use a mechanism that applies the disc brake mechanically using the hydraulic brake caliper piston and some use a seperate drum brake located in the center area of the brake rotor. usually reffered to as the "top hat" design since the rotor looks like a top hat when it is removed. a lot of people don't use the auxilliary brake thinking they don't need it. on drum brakes the park brake system is part of the shoes adjustment so it actually helps to have it operational. if not used the cables sieze up or the mechanism in general siezes up. even if you have an automatic trans the park brake should likely be used when parking on an incline anyway. stop, apply the park brake, then put the trans into park. it puts the whole shifter and trans internal mechanism under less stress. in an auto trans there is a notched wheel on the output shaft and there ia a pawl activated into that notched wheel when the trans is placed in park. that is the only thing holding the vehicle in place when the vehicle is parked and no park brake is used. that pawl can be hard to release when the weight of the vehicle, through the gear ratio etc of the drive train, is resting on the pawl jamming it into the gear notch. it only makes sense to me to use the park/emergency brake (they are generally the same brake with different names).
google image automatic trans park mechanism for a pic. here is a link to a generic set of pics with trans in park and not in park.
https://streetsmarttransmission.com/...-parking-pawl/

Re: parking brake
 

parking brake is required in states that have inspections. a single disc brake used as an emergency brake probably has more stopping power than a poorly maintained drum brake system. just throwing out options. truk doesn't have a parking brake, it should but i never got around to it during the build

Re: parking brake
 

[QUOTE=dsraven;9236397]there is the electrically operated linear actuator style, like newer cars have. just a button on the dash. there is probably a kit out there somewhere. /QUOTE]

I bought a kit like that awhile back but haven’t gotten around to installing it yet.

Re: parking brake
 

back in the day some guys who drove our original trucks would carry a rock or a firewood block in the box. when they stopped they would drop the block in front of the wheel as a park brake since the park brake was something they considered extra and not really needed. they were also the guys who said the service brakes work good but you have to pump them up a bit. they didn't realize the park brake helps in brake adjustment, they also probably never adjusted the service brake either. haha.

Re: parking brake
 

Ha Ha - Ive been carrying a block in the bed for years. Not because the brakes dont work good, but because I dont trust the park brake to hold on a slope. The bar that goes around the rod that goes thru the floor is worn to the point that it will not hold. So its time to do an up grade.

Re: parking brake
 

kabwe aka bam, a fella with a build on here, put the electric actuator on his task force truck. he built it himself. his build is at this link
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php?t=440079/

Re: parking brake
 

BAM'S BUILD shows the electric actuator he built for the park brake on page 86 post 2150 if anybody is interested.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...440079&page=86

Re: parking brake
 

That is clever!

If you build something like that I'd give some thought to how you would release it from underneath with whatever tools are kept in the truck.

First hot day last spring, out of town, the wife's jeep battery suffered an internal thermal runaway and it shut off, coasted most of the way to the side of the road, tried a restart. Put it in park + brake to get out and look under the hood and that was all the battery had in it, could not even run 4-way flashers. I know (now) how to take the console apart to release the shifter, but without power to wind back the rear brake pistons it is just a large roadside brick. I had to have it towed to a place I could buy a battery and pair of vice grips. Thank goodness I knew what an almost too hot to touch battery meant, tow truck driver wanted to drop us off at the dealership - at 4pm on the Saturday of a long weekend !