Parking brake upgrade mod...

[Philfab]

Well, until I get the plumbing of my hydro-parking brake (which has more hoses than a Nissan engine bay) I figured I should at least take a stab at making my current parking brake work since I've only recently gotten tired of not having a parking brake (after almost 2 years w/o one... not the smartest thing I've done). I do want a t-case brake, but my money is going to other stuff from Ballistic Fab (namely an SAS axle bracket kit, arms, etc...) Anyways, what I really needed was better holding power and we all know what leverage can do...

Design is very simple, bent square stock, 6 bolts and nuts. Bolts directly into your factory parking brake linkage. Design gives almost doubles the mechanical advantage of the stock setup. No cutting or drilling is required. You will have to adjust your cable to take up the extra slack but that's it. Also places the cable up and out of the way of shocks, leaf springs, etc.


Upper forward bolt goes where your cable clevis normally resides. Lower forward bolt rests on the arm. I know it's uglier than a mud fence but it's the prototype okay?


Power went from barely able to hold stock truck on slight grade to holding truck SOLID (with 33's) on 20* angle. Didn't even budge when I tried to push it.

Looks like some dip shit welded it with his feet, I know. All I had was .025 wire and the shop was closed. Very happy with the results of this mod. Will perform a little more R&D to see just how much it can hold. So yeah, lemme know what you guys think, or just flame away!

[ryanstoy]

Theory says that if you increase the lever.. you have to increase the required input distance to get the same result.

Does the parking brake handle just pull farther out of the dash to account for that? or...

[Philfab]

Originally Posted by ryanstoy

Theory says that if you increase the lever.. you have to increase the required input distance to get the same result.

Does the parking brake handle just pull farther out of the dash to account for that? or...

Good point. My original concern was that the system wouldn't have enough travel to really clamp things down. The other was that the extensions would require the system to be preloaded and possibly have the parking shoes riding all the time.

Thankfully the system has quite a bit of travel in it, and with a little adjustment, the handle travels outward only slightly further than the stock setup. To be on the safe side, I elevated the rear of the truck on jack stands during the initial adjustment to be certain that the parking brake was releasing fully.

[Rebuilt98]

Hmmm never thought of welding with my feet. Looks like it should work just fine. Good idea.

[Kamr0n]

Originally Posted by Philfab

Well, until I get the plumbing of my hydro-parking brake (which has more hoses than a Nissan engine bay) I figured I should at least take a stab at making my current parking brake work since I've only recently gotten tired of not having a parking brake (after almost 2 years w/o one... not the smartest thing I've done). I do want a t-case brake, but my money is going to other stuff from Ballistic Fab (namely an SAS axle bracket kit, arms, etc...) Anyways, what I really needed was better holding power and we all know what leverage can do...

Design is very simple, bent square stock, 6 bolts and nuts. Bolts directly into your factory parking brake linkage. Design gives almost doubles the mechanical advantage of the stock setup. No cutting or drilling is required. You will have to adjust your cable to take up the extra slack but that's it. Also places the cable up and out of the way of shocks, leaf springs, etc.

if your parking break wasnt working. why didnt you just adjust it?

[Philfab]

Originally Posted by Kamr0n

if your parking break wasnt working. why didnt you just adjust it?

Even a well adjusted OEM parking brake is quickly overwhelmed by tires that are just slightly larger than stock, let alone moving up 5+ inches in tire diameter. Most folks here will agree: the stock setup just doesn't cut it when it comes to steep grades and big tires.

The overall lack of power (even when adjusted) in combination with suspension clearance issues led to the development of this mod.

[Philfab]

Only thing I could find within a few minutes of driving, there's 30* hill on one of the trails close to me.


Just under 20*. Of course the brake is the only thing holding the truck.


Truck needs to be weighed, but I assume that it's a few hundred pounds more than stock with armor, wheels and tires and other mods. I'm planning on making a second version of the arms that will beef things up a bit and possibly give more holding power.

[Fox4Rnr]

nice avatar!!

[Philfab]

Thanks! I remembered seeing a sticker that look very similar, but I couldn't find any image of it, so I used my incredibly amateur Photoshop skills to make a new one.

[splyssr]

Heres mine