so i was at home depot here in payson, arizona. moved my truck to the loading area to have about 1000 lbs of concrete loaded. set the emergency brake and the pedal went straight to the floor. i knew right away what happened. looked under the truck, and sure enough, the driver side cable was broken. anyone know of a good source (other than dealers or junkyards) for new cables? i'm sure the other cables are stretched enough and i'd rather replace all cables, than replace just this one and have another break. sorry for the large image.

 

Time to invest in a hydraulic brake lock.

 

Napa has what you need. I replaced all mine from to back last year. I don't have PNs but they'll fix ya up

 

hydraulic brake lock? sounds interesting. any pics or info on those systems?

 

Those work good but if the system does bleed off then you roll away. They are not a LEGAL e brake.

 

I also see you have a long wheelbase rig. NAPA did not list the long front cable between the pedal and what hooks to the bracket in the picture. I got that one from Carquest. As far as I know the 2 rear cables are the same regardless of wheelbase.

 

I got mine at NAPA years ago

 

even better to know. thanks richie! could there be a way to set up both systems? just to have a back up of either one. what's the difficulty level of changing out the old for the new cables? do they need to be attached from inside the drums? if so, my only problem then is, i don't have an axle nut socket to remove my drums and axles.

 

I made my own socket. The only trucks I have seen with the hydro lock was wreckers. And yes the drums need to come off.

 

I have this one on most of my trucks :

http://www.awdirect.com/lever-lock-m...ake-locks-pto/

With the cable-brake set and the MICO locked, it will hold a load of cattle on a hill with the transmission in neutral.

This one is on the "wish list" :

http://www.awdirect.com/dual-lock-mi...ake-locks-pto/


As wonderful as they may be, hydraulic brake locks are of no help at all when the hydraulic brake system fails, hence the need for a secondary cable-operated system for emergency stopping.

In the real world, though, only about .02% of people ever actually use the park-brake, thus the cables rust and sieze and will not function when the EMERGENCY occurs.

 

wow! i'm drooling like you probably are bear! is it self explanatory that the single and dual locks do just that? the single only locks one drum, say the passenger side? and the dual locks both drums, driver and passenger side?

 

nevermind, i didn't analyze things before i wrote that. the single would mount between the master cylinder and the proportioning valve in the rear and would lock just the rears. and the dual would lock all 4 brakes. correct?

 

When I broke a rear cable at the equalizer on my 91 D350 I just ground the head of a small(#10 x 3") stove bolt to fit through the keyhole and clamped the raw end to it with two U-bolt guy wire clamps from Radio Shack....worked till the next brake job.

 

The single-line unit will lock both wheels on one end of the truck, whichever you install it in.

The double-line unit locks all wheels at both ends of the truck.

On my Ford, the single-line unit locks both rear wheels.

I went a different route on another truck and put the line-lock in the front brakes; on this truck, the line-lock locks the front wheels and the park-brake locks the rears; this set-up works very well so long as the park-brakes are in good working order, but with a trailer will tend to slide the front wheels if the park-brakes don't hold, demonstrating just how much weight a loaded trailer will transfer.

 

I put my brake lock on the front brakes. That gives me an idea now that i think about it...... can you say brake stand?