My-GMC Picture Gallery

Apologies... for not getting the parts list on here yet.
Sooo much to do and sooo little time... Hopefully I'll be able to rectify my tardiness as soon as I get home from the March99 trip.

September 5, 1999: Still no parts list. Sorry, but I'm currently researching/re-evaluating this enhancement. Still optimistic that it's a good enhance, but some bugs to work out.

February 10, 2000: I have recently installed the Leigh Harrison disc brakes on the front rears and in doing so have lost the manual parking brake on those wheels. I have to rethink this mod big-time as the worm gear motor at the moment does not apply the brakes sufficiently to be of any use. I'm going leave this page up to help generate ideas that may yet eventually evolve into a decent emergency brake system. As a parking brake I have  installed a hydraulic valve in the rear .

A parking brake that works ???

My new parking brake handle.

Old handle has been removed and replaced with power window switch that operates a seat motor/worm gear assembly.

The green light next to the "brake off" switch is on when brake is fully released or rather when worm has travelled to the "no tension" position. A large red light is used to show that the brake is ON. This light is mounted with the instrument cluster above the switch.

The kit arrived with very much care and attention projected in its assembly.

I had hoped to take pictures as we went but it got close to a mandatory departure time so completion won out as highest priority.

There are some things to keep in mind. You may have noticed that I'm calling it a parking brake. That's not to say I wouldn't use it with confidence in an emergency. Matter of fact, I'm confident that it would indeed work much better then the original.

As the brake is applied via a wormgear, it's not as immediate as a hand or foot activated brake. On the plus side though, enough tension can now be applied so that the GMC can be parked on an incline without having to rely only on the Park feature of the tranny.

I'll be doing some emergency test after my GMC has settled in to all the attention it received during '98.

Out of the box.

A closer look.

The handle was removed along with the short pice of cable that ran from the handle to the cross-over brake cable. The idler that was removed was used to replace the wire guide on the right and converted to a tensioner.

View from the bottom to show the location. It sits on the left side above the torsion bar. The actuator is installed to the front to assure it's pushing against the frame and not bolts/nuts. The wormgear is protruding through an existing hole.

View from the top. As the motor/actuator assembly is exposed to the elements that include heat from the exhaust a shield was installed as shown.

A little closer look.

View from the rear as actuator goes through existing hole through frame.

And finally an overview from the rear. The rectangle piece activates the "brake is on" limit switch.

Idlers were installed where the parking brake cable goes through the frame on each side. The cable had to be lengthened slightly which in turn made it difficult to adjust. Hence, a tensioner was added where the original configuration had only the guide wire loop.

The wire guide was replaced with a threaded rod attached to the idler that was removed from the short cable attached to the original brake handle.

Some views from the rear... the business end:

Note the limit switch fastened to the frame..

I was fortunate to obtain this modification in kit form from a fellow GMC'er. He built a few and was going to take them to one of the GMC rallies. I snapped this one up before he had a chance to change his mind ;-).

He has expressed to remain anonymous as he had not decided on whether to pursue this commercially and I will honor those wishes. However, if you're interested to do this as a do-it-yourself project I will attempt to get a parts list together and post it here. Email me.

This page was last updated on Monday, April 26, 2004 05:53 PM
(0905/755-0210/1091)