| The KISS Parking Brake [message #218816] |
Sat, 17 August 2013 20:09  |
kerry pinkerton
Messages: 2565
Registered: July 2012
Location: Harvest, Al
Karma:
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Kiss = Keep It Simple Stupid....or Kerry's Insanely Simple System. Choose one. Regardless, it would be hard to be simpler than this.
When I had drum brakes the parking brake sucked. When I installed the Manny Brake System, they sucked worse and while good things are in the works, at the moment the parking brake situation is just about useless.
I've been thinking about a mechanical brake holder downer thingie for some months after Ken Henderson explained his electric vacuum puller system.
Anyway, here is the prototype I came up with. The first thing is the anchor point. After looking around, I discovered that the steering column bracket is bolted to the foot well with four 5/16 carriage bolts. I removed the lower inner (closest to the engine) and replaced it with a 5/16 eye bolt. ( I didn't have a 5/16 eye bolt so I welded a loop to a 5/16 nut. ) I had to pull the plastic foot well out of the way to get the carriage bolt out.
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/data/6433/m_0181.jpg
Then I had to prototype the hooks. Another eye bolt was cut so it a hook. Another hook was welded to a tube with a nut welded to each end. The two were screwed together and a handle bent from 1/4 rod and welded to the top hook.
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/data/6433/m_0171.jpg
That's pretty much it. When you want to engage it, simply hook the bottom into the floor eye bolt, depress the brake pedal and swing the top hook over the pedal arm. Pedal stays down. Brakes stay on. Coach doesn't move. Want more or less pedal just rotate the top hook to close the distance.
With it pretty tight, the coach won't move under power...at least I didn't want to rev it any higher.
Here are a couple shots of it in place:
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/data/6433/m_0191.jpg
Other side view:
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/data/6433/m_0201.jpg
The only other thing is to deal with the brake light being on whenever the brake pedal is down. The simple solution is to fine the brake wire and move it from an always on 12V to a line that is switched on by the ignition switch.
The next version will have a knob on the shaft that will allow the adjustment of the top hook while on the pedal. That way you can just twist it a couple times to really set the pedal and back it off to remove. Although, I doubt that the last 1/4" of pedal travel will change how hard the coach is to move.
It might make sense to paint the floor hook a bright red or something. A small flashlight handy to the drivers seat might be useful for nighttime work.
I'd thought about doing something using a cable and the original hand brake lever to pull the pedal down but want to keep the rear cable linkage intact for the anticipated new parking brake.
Even so, there might be times where having all six wheels locked and not depending on the parking pawl would be a very, very good thing.
Kerry Pinkerton - North Alabama
Had 5 over the years. Currently have a '06 Fleetwood Discovery 39L
[Updated on: Sat, 17 August 2013 20:12] Report message to a moderator |
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