Setting Up Parking Brake System On My 3a

I saw nothing in that to be offended by. Something being "archaic" doesn't mean anything negative to me. I am archaic myself.

 

Ok. I just read it the wrong way.

 

Perhaps anachronistic is the word you're looking for. Not a value judgement, IMHO.

 

The Commando is set up this way. A single long cable hooked to both wheels (like Kens picture above), then a cable that goes up to a T handle under the dash which is the same as a CJ. It works, although I've never tried it on a really steep slope.

 

A D30 up front solves that.

 

11" intermediate drums
YJ pedal
Rear cables ‘74CJ
Cable clamp homemade
Front cable from- I don’t remember but I did have to shorten it. (below)

 

A pull style tunnel mounted parking brake lever would work between the seats. You would have to mount it between the seats.


At low speeds, cutting brakes should work fine, regardless of the Powr Lok's since they still differentiate during corners and allow some slip during "lock up".


Dual cable turning brakes were an early modification for air cooled VW's which entailed mounting a second brake lever on the pivot between the seats. It can and has been done in other applications. you could use two pull style parking brake levers (they MUST have push button releases) mounted between the seats. This could be an added modification of the mounted parking brake lever.

Today, there are a plethora of hydraulic options available. These would be mounted between the seats and require some additional plumbing, since the rear brake lines would have to be split prior to the unit.

Hydraulic parking brakes have been around since the fifty's. Leverlock and Microlock were two common units that used the exiting hydraulic brake hardware to lock up the rear axle. The original units are retard expensive but still available new.


There are also "cheap" line locks available on line that run in the 40-50 buck range. Other options are the E-stopp or rigging up a passenger pull lever between the seats. The downfall of hydraulic parking brakes is the loss of a wheel cylinder will negate the parking system. While an issue at the federal level (liability), this shouldn't be an issue for us, since we usually park in gear anyway.


So, My thought is to run a soft line from the close to the MC up to the body, hard line from there to your hydraulic parking brake unit, on to your junction block in front of the cutting brakes, hard lines back to a pair of soft lines down to the rear diff, there running to the two rear backing plates. You would be basically moving the main rear line up to the body to the microlock, then the junction block to in front of the cutting brakes, which would be mounted between the seats, then dual hard lines back to the area above the axle where a set of soft lines would be mounted to the existing hard lines going to the two wheel cylinders.

 

I'll take that as an excuse and put cutter brakes on my long term list. 6-stick Jeep here I come!

 

I used a floor mounted pull lever, mounted between the seats. I don't remember what it was out of. Also used a Wilwood universal parking brake cable kit. Other brands available. Worked good for me.

 

When I originally did the frame-off build of my 3B I had the Bendix 11" brakes on it and those were set up as cutting brakes utilizing a couple of modified Toyota hand brake levers between the seats. That actually worked ok but the cable routing was less than ideal. Those brakes didn't stay on there for too long as they were replaced with four wheel discs several years later. At that time, the left lever was repurposed for a direct mechanical linkage to the D18 brake and the right side repurposed for a hydraulic disc brake on the Warn 5721.

Fast forward to the most recent edition where I'm using cable operated Wilwood calipers for the ebrake system. I actually routed those cables rearward out of the calipers, along the top of the housing tubes, and up over the rear cover. And again, the equalized cable assembly is attached to the right side Toyota handle.
A bit of a confusing photo but you can see the ebrake cables coming up over the diff cover.

 

John, was you running a Powr lok when you had the Bendix cutting brakes ?