deleting parking brake lever

[ChuckN]

Lived in this rust infected state all my life, never had an issue with e-brakes. Frequent use tends to keep things in a working condition.

Not saying my dad’s logic wasn’t flawed- I think that’s the key. Using it all the time is the way.

 

[Sad Sack]

Not saying my dad’s logic wasn’t flawed- I think that’s the key. Using it all the time is the way.

No matter what, always listenin' to pops is the best approach.
When my pops said "when ya find yourself in a hole, quit digging" ... my approach at life changed from there on in.

 

[goldpack]

Parking brake? You should call it by the correct name, Emergency Brake. If all else fails you can still slow down and stop the truck. Keystone state safety inspection fails without a working E-brake.

this was my thought also.

and with a lack of a computer to check....even a regular indie shop may pull out a paper check list of safety mandated things for antiques.

and see that the emergency brake is not operable.

have I used the emergency brake,...no. would I like to even if it may stick on.
maybe. = if the vehicle is rolling, and I have no chock or rock handy to stop it before it gets flat bedded.

 

[Turbo4whl]

Ever see a vehicle roll away from a snapped parking pawl?

Yes. Brand new Ford van, parked at the top of a hill. Tapped from behind, rolled down the hill, over the curb at a curve in the road. Continued down the grass and smashed into the apartment building. Totaled! Brick wall of the building also caved in.

 

[Dejure]

Does the e brake play any role in the adjustment of the brakes?

YES First, the brakes must be adjusted before you adjust the e-brake. Second, if the ebrake is on or too tight, you will get a false setting on the brake adjustment.

 

[Radiohead]

YES First, the brakes must be adjusted before you adjust the e-brake. Second, if the ebrake is on or too tight, you will get a false setting on the brake adjustment.

Truth

 

[Dejure]

this was my thought also.

and with a lack of a computer to check....even a regular indie shop may pull out a paper check list of safety mandated things for antiques.

and see that the emergency brake is not operable.

have I used the emergency brake,...no. would I like to even if it may stick on.
maybe. = if the vehicle is rolling, and I have no chock or rock handy to stop it before it gets flat bedded.

Many of us have had to resort to an e-brake when life went south. THEN there is that the master cylinder was shot on my 67 square back, back around 73 or 74. I used the e-brake to activate the rear brakes and the peddle activated the front disks.

It made for an amazing snow-ice car. I could lock the front tires and turn them without turning the car, until i let off the brakes. I used the e-brake to slow without affecting steering via the front discs.

VW's had that class of e-brake controls that made them easy to use in the course of normal driving. Not so much our square things. Aside from that a couple clicks down and my e-brake got me out of "stuck" situations more than once by locking up the spinning tire.

 

[Ricko1966]

If you are using the park position of the transmission to hold the car parked on an incline, have you ever noticed how hard you have to pull on the shift lever to get out of park? That's because everything is bound up and under a load it was never designed for. You can/will given enough time damage the transmission case, the pin,the parking pawl, the shift cable, etc. etc. Plus with the brake on it can never come out of gear and roll freely down a hill until it crashes. Lots and Lots of people never have a problem. Lots of people smoke, drink, etc.etc. and never have a problem. So pick your gambles. If I remember correctly from 50 years ago or so teachings, the parking pawl was originally designed to keep the transmission stationary from a start so you weren't doing a neutral drop everytime you started the car and then put it into gear. Also transmissions are not all the same and there are millions of different designs. Best bet fix your E brake and use it regularly to keep it working, but you PROBABLY will never have a problem either way.

 

[DoubleDingo]

When I was 15, young, dumb and knew everything, I was told not use the automatic transmission in park to hold the vehicle. My 56 with th400 had no e-brake, and I parked on many inclines being in the mountains, but if it was super steep or a cliff nearby, I found a rock or log to chock the wheels.

I am much friendlier to my autos as an adult that still doesn't know anything

 

[waterpirate]

No, but I've heard of them breaking the case when having too much pressure upon release. But that was a long time ago.

I am probably the only one I know that uses an emergency brake on every park. Gotta keep 'em limber or they quit working. Except that stupid grand caravan. I don't trust the seals on the calipers to not fail again, so it's truly an emergency brake only. Wasted money on the cable set, imo. Crappy Raybestos reman calipers..... grrr.

Living the same night mare with the wife's grand carravan.

 

[mxer147]

Once upon a time, the emergency brake got me home without too much front rotor wear when I ignored the front pad wear bar squealing for too many weeks.

 

[Radiohead]

Once upon a time, the emergency brake got me home without too much front rotor wear when I ignored the front pad wear bar squealing for too many weeks.

Done that myself in my less affluent days more times than I care to admit.

Not that I'm particularly rich either, but you know what I mean (I hope)

 

[mxer147]

Yep, I was mostly pushing the effort off. Almost repeated the same thing earlier this year. The old trusty Pontiac been through a lot during the 275k miles. I just remembered driving my sisters square which blew a rear wheel brake cylinder which I needed the E brake to get me home many highway miles. There’s many reasons they’re engineered safety on a vehicle, don’t leave home without it.

 

[Grit dog]

It’s true. At least in Michigan where I’m from, due to the salt and corrosion, my dad always taught me to never use the emergency brake unless it was…an emergency. Otherwise, you’d be stuck where you were because you’d never get it to release.

^ Thats where I get it from as well.

 

[TotalyHucked]

I haven't had time to do the parking brake cables on my square since the last big redo and it makes me cringe every time I park this thing in gear. Poor T56