Adding a parking brake light with factory idiot light

[davepl]

If I put a switch down at the pedal mechanism could I not tie it directly to the brown Brake wire? I mean I don't even need a diode because I don't care about backflow, it's just a switched ground.

This seems like such a good and simple idea but I've never heard of it being done.

If wired like this you'd still have your hydraulic warning but you'd get a "you left your parking brake on" light as well (same light).

[BigRed76]

I don't see any reason why you couldn't. I think the hardest part would just be mounting the switch.

[GuyO]

Hi Dave, I have done this twice and it works good. I think I found it in the under $50 mods thread. Sorry about the pics, (too late to try to fix them)! The link said, "I mounted a brake light switch that is normally open on the parking brake bracket, I grounded one of the two connections to the bracket and ran a wire from the other connection to the brown brake wire on the master cylinder. Now when the key is on and the parking brake is engaged the "brake" light in the dash lights up until I release the parking brake. It was a ten minute operation and works perfectly.
This is the switch with the brake engaged and the switch closed, activating the "Brake" light in the dash. The Brake light on with parking brake on and key in run position. The light goes out when the key is off or in the acc position. Note the splice could be placed anywhere along the (20 TAN 33) wire circuit"

[bonnieclyde100]

i just got done doing mine this weekend. i used a switch from a 94 chevy truck and it was less than three dollars at oriellys

[sixtyeightC10]

This is a great idea. I have never thought of doing this.

[jocko]

Here’s how I did it on my 66, same logic as above though.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=419932

[kwmech]

If my parking brake is on I don't need a light to tell me. The truck won't move

[truckster]

I'm a little surprised Dave wouldn't build a logic circuit to determine if the brake should actually be on and release it automatically if necessary.

The man is a computer genius, for those who didn't know. Check out his YouTube channel.

[Getter-Done]

Originally Posted by truckster

I'm a little surprised Dave wouldn't build a logic circuit to determine if the brake should actually be on and release it automatically if necessary.

The man is a computer genius, for those who didn't know. Check out his YouTube channel.

For Sure
I have been subbed to his channel for a long time.

[Rust_never_sleeps]

Originally Posted by kwmech

If my parking brake is on I don't need a light to tell me. The truck won't move

I can tell by the smell...eventually ;-)

[jocko]

Great point kwmech, truck shouldn’t move if the parking brake is on - but this issue usually arises when someone drives without the parking brake “fully” disengaged (or at least that was why I went down this road). Truck will drive fine and folks will wonder why their rear brakes wear so fast or get so hot. This was the case with my 66 anyway, that goofy pre-68 lever didn’t always go all the way back to fully disengaged when released. The little adapted brake switch can be very fine tuned to only extinguish when the parking brake is fully disengaged.