Parking brake indicator mod, easy project.

[AirSpeed]

I have driven off with my parking brake partly engaged on a couple occasions and today I had a brain flash! I mounted a brake light switch that is normally open on the parking brake bracket, I grounded one of the two lugs to the bracket and ran a wire from the other lug to the 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 off and the circuit open.


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

I bent a thin piece of steel and drilled a hole for the switch and two mounting screws. You can see the ground wire conneted to the mounting screw.

[AirSpeed]

I added a couple pictures of how I mounted the switch, the wiring is is so easy that I didnt take a pic of it, I simply tapped into the wire that goes to the brake light wire on the master cylinder, connected it to one lug on the switch, the other lug connects to a ground and that's it. I bought the switch at NAPA a year ago for another project so I dont have the model number anymore, it is a brake light switch that is normally open, meaning when the button is pushed the circuit opens and when its released it closes the circuit activating the light. Its opposite how a regular switch works.

[Bruce88]

Thank you for posting this mod.
I think it’s a system the factory should have done

Since my parking brake assembly is not installed it was easier to show this mod with some dimensions and a wiring diagram. If you’re interested see my build (post #421) http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...60#post4264460

As I was roaming around this forum the other day I found my self in the FAQ section
Found an idea/mod that I wanted to incorporate into the build, of course you would never find yourself doing that (smile)

The mod is a parking brake light (Parking brake indicator mod, easy project) http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=425922

I was cleaning up the parking brake and since it’s not installed on the build it’s a lot easier to take some pictures of the mod. Thought you might be interested.

I made the bracket out of 16 gauge steel and the only thing that was not talked about in the FAQ post was that the bracket needed to be bent so that the switch would come in contact with the brake lever.

I’m also cleaning up the wiring harness and will be putting in the new 20 gauge wire splice up by the instrument connector as can be seen in the below picture. Note the splice could be placed any where along the (20 TAN 33) wire circuit. For me it just seemed to be the easiest place for me to put the splice.

You might be wondering why the brake warning light circuit goes thru the starting switch. It’s because when the switch is in the start position it gives the circuit a ground to test that the brake warning light is in working order.

[AirSpeed]

Originally Posted by Bruce88

Thank you for posting this mod.
I think it’s a system the factory should have done

Since my parking brake assembly is not installed it was easier to show this mod with some dimensions and a wiring diagram. If you’re interested see my build (post #421) http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...60#post4264460

It's cool how two different people used the exact same method. Thanks for posting the detailed photo!