Does anyone know of where I can find used or reasonably priced new micro lock brake unit. I can only seem to find the electrically operated ones but my father had a mechanical one that worked without any wiring. It seems like a really simple way to get all four wheels locked up solid when parking on hills with heavy loads.
Grant

 

Grant, if the Micro-loc you are talking about is the kind that had the lever that you moved up or down to hold the brakes after you applied them, I don't think they make them anymore. At least I haven't seen them anywhere. We used to have them in the OLD towtrucks my father had.
One thing about them, they can release without notice on their own. Quit a few drivers and towtrucks were damaged because of this. Especially if you shut the engine off. I've had it happen more than once.
But if you really want one, check with a towing company and find out where they get their supplys.


Dave

 

Released on their own! That would suck!! Maybe I need to do some more research on this. I wonder how much power the electrically operated ones draw. There is a type of set up that uses dual line locks to lock both the front and rear brakes for a short period of time. I think the rock climbers use them. I just hate when you put the ebrake on and the rear wheels slide. You would think that somebody makes a type of lock to replace your foot on the brake pedal without being to complicated.
Grant

 

If you have any booster bleed down though, those locks may be ineffective.

Why not just wire in a couple line locks on a toggle button rather than the traditional push button? Probably cost $100-150 total in parts.

 

I wonder how long you could leave the line locks energized before they would drain your battery down to the point your truck would'nt start. Anybody have any idea how much they draw?
Grant

 

These are actually called Mico brakes- www.mico.com. They have what you are looking for. The lever action is common on forklifts where repairing the park brake is more expensive than installing one of these. They will hold for a long time, but not forever. They are designed as a 'supplemental' park brake. If you can't find a lever style that you are looking for, Email me and I'll get one off a parts lift at work for you and ship it. Jim

 

A good truck parts supply will have them. They are still used on tow trucks. The problem came in when the dual line brakes came in. You can get a single line for less than $200. The federal laws made them add an alarm to the unit that will blow the horn if it starts to release. Going for the dual line unit costs much more. These units should have nothing to do with the brake booster, they simply block the brakefluid from releasing the brakes.

Question, if the rear axle is sliding, what good would the brake lock do? The front axle is lighter than the rear when pulling a trailer.

 

my booster comment was for if you're using something to just lock the pedal in place mechanically.

I really have no idea how much juice a line loc draws, I only use them for about 10sec at a time