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Parking brake alternatives to the pedal?

urbex

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Somehow both my '86 K5 and '85 K20 parts truck came to me missing the parking brake pedals. Rest of the hardware is there, but for some unknown reason, one of the POs removed the pedal assemblies..

I really should have one in the K5, as I'm running an Art Carr/Sidewinder shifter in it, and as Dad found out the hard way recently, it's pretty easy to accidentally knock it out of park.

So I'm wondering what other people might have done to change it from a pedal, to say a center mounted handle, but possibly even beyond the typical factory style brake handle. I also have a Tuffy Security console along with the Sidewinder shifter, so just bolting in a handle from something else wouldn't necessarily be an easy thing to do. I also want to stay mechanical, and brakes at the wheels, so I don't want a line-lock, or transfer case mounted brake either. Or, at least not as my only parking brake option.

I know I can easily junkyard another pedal, toss it in, and call it a day....but I've never really liked the pedal set up, in any vehicle. More than occasionally, I'll forget that it's set in the Ford, and it seems like the dash brake warning lights are finicky in these old things anyways. The center mounted handle in the Samurai, on the other hand, is always a quick and easy visual check for whether it's on or not, and much easier to access/release, especially while strapped in.

K5_tuffy.jpg
 
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Years ago places like J.C. Whitney sold a custom e-brake kit that had two levers,so you could apply the brakes to either rear wheel individually, or both rear wheels..

One I recall was popular for VW based dune buggies--you could apply the brake only to one wheel that was spinning and that would allow the other with good traction to pull you thru ,they worked well with open diffs..a "poor man's posi"...also allowed for great donuts too..:D
 
Years ago places like J.C. Whitney sold a custom e-brake kit that had two levers,so you could apply the brakes to either rear wheel individually, or both rear wheels..

One I recall was popular for VW based dune buggies--you could apply the brake only to one wheel that was spinning and that would allow the other with good traction to pull you thru ,they worked well with open diffs..a "poor man's posi"...also allowed for great donuts too..:D

Those are called "cutting brakes", and still common in the dune world. Tractors have had them for pretty much ever, and they're starting to appear in crawlers now too, though modern implementations are typically hydraulic rather than mechanical.

I'm not so much looking for alternatives to parking brake system altogether...I'm just thinking along the lines of something that's easier/more convienent to use when a bunch of us stop on a trail for a few minutes, I hit the lever without having to unlatch my safety harness, and release a few minutes later. Reaching down under the dash would require a harness unlatch. Yes, it's something small and likely plenty of people wondering why I would even bother, lol.
 
Cutting brakes have there place but not as a parking brake since they don't lock.

I can't do a parking brake with my rear disc set up so I will be adding a manual ball valve inline to the rear brakes for a short term hydraulic parking brake. It's not ideal for a long term brake lock but it'll work fine for parking on the trail etc like you described.
 
As I said in the OP, I want to stay mechanical, not hydraulic.

That Lokar set up should do the trick, unless I can find something similar without paying the Lokar tax, lol.
 
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