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Hello brake masters!
I am stopped again by what I don't know....In the almost final assembly of my ongoing re work of my '64 d100 truck, of all things, the **%!!# parking brake has me stuck. If this were a car, there would be no problem.
The reason I am stuck on something so mundane is that I swapped rear axles, axle tube and brake backing plates from stock by using a set from a 70's E body. At the same time I also swapped transmissions.In so doing got rid of the externally applied drum parking brake on the back of the stock 3 speed. When collecting parts for this project I didn't give the parking brake much thought other than to note that the new one would be cable controlled as opposed to my stock drum one.
It wasn't until I removed the parking brake cable ends that came with my donor backing plates and brake setup that I realized these cables are connected to each backing plate and probably HAVE to be installed with the outer sheathing that snaps into a socket on the backing plate. The set of parts I got had been cut out of a junker, leaving about 3 feet of each side's cable, luckily attached by the appropriate part of the sheath to each backing plate. SO why am I stuck?
Understand that I have never worked with cable operated parking brakes and because I want to use the existing handle that pulls up in the cab and is attached to a linkage that directly connects to the drum parking brake. even the factory service manual doesn't say how to adjust the cables so that the brakes would be pulled evenly from what have to be unequal length cables, or how the cables are routed. The manual shows adjustments for one or the other, not a mix.
So before I waste bunch of time trying stuff I thought I'd ask opinions about whether y'all think I can successfully run a short cable from the existing lever mechanism to say, a flat plate, then maybe by using turnbuckles, attatch each new cable to the plate for tensioning? The service manual shows a foot depressed (down) lever for parking brakes, not a hand pulled (up) like I have. Finding the foot lever mechanism may be possible, but I haven't found one the last 6 years.
Then, I don't know if cable operated parking brakes usually operate from the centerline of a vehicle, or can one cable be lots longer than another so long as each cable is tethered somehow so that when the brake lever is applied each cable gets pulled equally? Last, since I have no idea of how long the appropriate cables will be, I plan to braze wire cable to the short parts I have now to extend them as long as need be.
Several places sell the cables at about $200 (ouch!!) but no one seems to be able to say how to hook their cables to a brake applying lever or pedal...they are focused on snapping them into the slots on the other end at the brake drum. Welll, that is obvious how to do.
Now this wouldn't worry me usually, but in my state you have to have the parking brake tested to pass annual safety inspection. Rats.
rock
'64d100
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