Opinion on leaving out the parking brake?

[bobinbc]

On a show car that is never driven, I would say leave it out. But if it's on the road you must have it, it could save a life.

I had a car blow a brake line approaching a 4-way stop. The car was a 1965 Triumph TR4 with a 327 and turbo 350, it only had the single master, auto trans. I was driving in a "spirited" fashion because I had confidence in my brakes, they were all in good condition (it even had front discs ) and I was young and dumb. I got lucky and was able to crank it hard to the right and get through the intersection and around the corner without incident, about a half block later I'd coasted enough that I slowed down by shifting into reverse while idling. The car had no e-brake because the rear had been swapped and it had never been hooked up. DUMB! Someone could've easily been killed.....

[mr48chev]

I think if you check the rcw's for your state every state in the Union requires some sort of parking/emergency brake on a car or truck.

But there are a lot of alternatives to the stock setup from using a pedal setup out of a later model, using a floor handle, or buying an after market setup.

Better to have on and never use it than not have one and pay a ticket or worse.

[55dude]

this shouldn't even come into question wether to have one or not, having experienced "brake failure" and ending up with my front end smashing through the front of a small grocery store late one night made a believer out of me because had i not had it i would have crushed the clerk and possible killed him! and if you think pulling a vehicle into park with auto trans will stop you: WRONG! a parking pawl is designed to shear under certain conditions and won't stop you. install one!

[Dan Bowles]

Helmets and seat belts have nothing to do with this. If you don't want to wear those it is usually just you and your friends and family that have to deal with you being a melon head the rest of your life. You'll find who your friends are at that point as well. I'm speaking from personal experience here.

Not having an Ebrake now makes your car/truck a potential missile coming through an intersection and you'll be hurting MY friends and family.

This only becomes an emotional issue if you want to convince yourself you don't need one and it won't do you any good. Do some research and put something in you're willing to trust and understand how to use.

[Number 9]

Back in the 40's people called them emergency brakes and often they saved the day.
Here in ca. they are required by law.

[Thadious]

Not sure what the terrain looks like everywhere you've been, but around here we have quite the hills and often we have to park on them (well, the side of the road going up or down them ). I've often found in the past that even in gear, an tranny with enough rotational pressure on it will cause a minor amount of slippage as air always slowly leaks by a cylinder wall over time... In both auto and manual trannys I've seen the vehicle "lurch" when parked.

Regardless of where you live, IMO, leaving out an "emergency" or "parking" brake... whatever you want to call it = a bad idea... especially after you've spent alot of money building the truck only to leave something like this out.

Kind of reminds me of a friend that put a $5000 stereo system in his car, but couldn't be bothered to put a $200 alarm system in it. Let's just say that "someone" has a really nice system for real cheap, and it's not him (or me for that matter).

Ounce of prevention = a pound of cure, but to each his own. It's law here so wouldn't even be open for discussion.

Just my two bits,
Ted.

[MrDude_1]

Originally Posted by Thadious

Not sure what the terrain looks like everywhere you've been, but around here we have quite the hills and often we have to park on them

I thought i saw a hill here once, but it turned out to be a rabbit hole.


for what its worth everyone ive worked out my rear brakes now.... I have an internal drum parking/emergency/slide-turn brake, and 11" discs.
nice thing is the passenger side parking brake line points out back, and the drivers side points forward... so i can run the passenger line around the back/bottom, and then the two lines can run parallel down the drivers side of the frame.. nice clean install.

thanks for the thoughts on the subject...

[ya it is a classic]

well frankly not having a parking/emergency brake is just dumb. ya if its just a show truck/trailer queen then its not needed. but if its a DD or even just a weekend driver then an emergency brake is a necessity. my brakes lock up all 4 tires of pavement in my 55 3200 (not bad for 56 year old technology) but the emergency brake dosent work and with the 4 speed manual its kinda annoying to have to turn it off when you get out and your on a slight hill. i know this is unsafe and sometime next week i will be fixing the problem. if my brakes were to fail and i hit and killed someone because i had no backup brakes.......... just sayin its not that much work and not that much money to save your life and the lives of others