After I changed the butchered up dash in my 46 and when it was in the shop for paint, the shop owner sugested that he install an e-brake handle he had laying around the shop. He didn't remember what it came off of but you can see from the picture that it's the T handle type. Straight pull to set the brake and quarter turn to release. Since I didn't have the original e-brake handle and liked the looks of this one, I said why not. He hooked up the cable direct to the stem of the e-brake handle, the joined the cable to a 1X2 cable junction to connect to the brake shoes on the 9" rear end. Standard fare, right? I noticed that the e-brake didn't work when I picked the car up but I figured some adjustment was needed and didn't give it much thought until I was finishing up the details. When I started messing with it, I found that I could could pull the handle about 2" and when I did, the shoes drug on the drums but the brakes were not really set. I got thinking about it and after looking at other e-brakes handles it dawned on me that it's no surprise that this hook up would not work and I need more of a mechanical advantage for this type of handle to work. I figure that cars or pick ups that used this kind of e-brake had a lever to compound the force pulled on the handle. Anybody got any ideas what kind of cars or pick ups I should be scouting for this type of linkage?
a stock `46 Ford parking brake handle is what you need that's what i think this is , someone tell me if i'm wrong. as you can see there is a lot more leverage
FAST, that looks like a tri 5 chevy e-brake handle. On the tri 5 there is a bellcrank , just past the end of the trans , mounted to the body that increases the leverage. I do not have a pic to show , but I can check under my 55 and get measurements if needed. Dave
By trial and error. On that bellcrank you make, drill more holes betwix the middle and the frame pivot bolt, then move it to where it works best would my way of doing it.
X2 on what 29 nash said. I would cheat a bit though, meausure how much travel it takes now, to get the shoes to engage (however far you can pull the handle out with the brakes hooked up) and then disconnect it to see how much travel you will actually have (how far will the handle pull out without the brakes hooked up). If you have twice as much travel at the handle as you are using, start your belcrank with the holes for the hand cable at one end and the holes for your brake connection around the middle. Vary as required (1/3 more travel available? Put the holes at the end and 2/3 of the way from the pivot to the end, etc).
That is 46,47,48 ford handle .Just sold mine with front cable,surprised me for what I got for it.Show up on ebay quite often.
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