My parts book shows the emergency brake cables hooking up near the center of the truck but my hookups are on the outside of the frame, one on each side. I can't locate the correct cables and all of the emergency brakes parts on the inside of the drums is missing. The truck is not original. It has a Chevy 350 and an auto trans. I am not sure if the rear end is original but it looks like it is to me, but I am new to old trucks. I rebuilt the master cylinder and switched to front disc brakes. What an improvement! I just don't feel safe driving it without and e-brake.
The e brake has nothing to do with driving, just parking and staying put. I find that an old VW jug makes a great E brake.
Parking Brake Madness ! WELCOME ! . The Park Brake is a very important thing to have working properly and you're wise to worry about it not working . if you look in some of the Hot Rod threads , this was just recently addressed , I'm not a Hot Rod guy so I can't be of help but someone used an aftermarket kit that's made for just this problem . Take your time and read all the Park Brake posts and use one that actually worked , print it out and buy what you need from that brand vendor . I'm sure you know that we do a lot of good natured ribbing here , Ol' Chebby was just funnin' ya . BTW : old VW Cylinder jugs do work pretty well !
The e-brake is not 'hot rod.' All of that is stock as far as I know. The e-brake hookups on the outside of the frame look factory.
Welcome aboard. Did you look in our hosts catalog for your part? Or maybe go to midas and see if one of them knows the part you need. Go on napa web site and do a search for the brake cable. Again Welcome aboard.
No But , Thetruck certainly is and it's usaually easier to use LoCar etc. typ solutions . The guys here really know this stuff well , read up and I'm sure you'll find a do-able solution .
Lokar has a cable that hooks up to most anything. And I actually have a VW jug under my truck right now, I have a pretty steep driveway and kids...no chances. She already took out my neighbor's bush across the cul de sac and nearly ran me down in the process. Not saying I don't trust her, but....
6273909, I have been following this thread because I have the same problem on my 53'. I finished installing my power booster on it yesterday. So please keep us posted on your solutions. I finally identified my rear end, it was from a 55-62 chevy truck donor with 3.90 gears. Someone just cut the old cables and gutted the mechanism out of it. As near as I can tell I only need the spreader bar and lever arm that hooks to the cable. Has anyone seen a vendor for these parts from a 55-62 E-brake system. I think as you do that I can use Coilover's connection to new stock rear cables, stock cables to the lever arm that pulls the spreader bars and new spreader bars. If anyone knows of additional parts I haven't identified please let me know. Flashlight
Missing Parts Go to The Old Car Manual Project and look up the pictures of the parts you need and save them ,use these pix in E-Mails to the various old parts sellers on Flea-Bay etc. as these are very low usage parts and should come cheaply .
If your rear end is some kind of orphan and brake parts are hard to find you can use the pinion mount e-brake sold by TSM Manufacturing in Colorado. I haven't used one of their units but have made several for use on weird rear ends and show cars that didn't want all the e-brake mechanism visible. They give strong holding power because the force applied at the pinion is multiplied by the rear end ratio. If 100#'s is applied at the pinion on a 4.11 rear then there is 411#'s of holding force at the wheels. Conversely, on an 11" brake drum there is only a 5.5" torque arm versus a torque arm of around 14" on a 28" tall tire which gives a net torque disadvantage in holding power.
Pinion Mount Park Brake ?? This is a drum or disc brake mounted on the pinion yoke then ?? . How about a picture ? . TIA ,
My 57 is at the paint shop with the bed off. If he hasn't started painting it tommorrow.(which would be a miracle) I'll take a pictures of the E brake assembly and post them after work. I know the years are different but maybe close enough to give you an idea how it goes. the cables from the backing plate attach to the frame rails (like a bulk head)then tie together at a pivot point at the center of the chassis ,then with the help of a pully the cable runs from the pivot runs to the pully down the frame rail to the handle assembly. I had 1 picture of the pivot assembly without the cables hooked up .I hope this helps for now. Bobby
Nate, better than a picture is the drawings and photos on their web site; www.tsmmfg.com Click on driveshaft parking brake and then on pinion mount parking brake.
