Thread: 9" ford rearend pinion parking brake ??

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I am leaning toward installing a pinion parking brake on my 39 chevy, any commit on them pro's or con's, best place to get a set-up? thanks

Tried one once, wasn't real happy. The entire assembly seems to catch every piece of trash coming off the road!!!!!! For the few times I actually used it, just wasn't worth the hassle or the expense.....

They look nice, but really don't do the job - I had one on a previous car and actually had one on my current project until I found a real great deal on some rear discs with an e-brake. TSM out of Colorado sell about the best of a poor lot. The Total Performance mechanical version is really a copy the older TSM design. Their hydraulic version is illegal in many states - which Micky Lauria of TP will debate you even with a copy of the law in hand

To add to Dave S.' comments

1 - Tough to get the rotor to run true on the rough pinion yoke forging without some machine work - and then even a crap shoot. This means you have to back off the adjustment so much that it wont apply

2 - Wont hold the weight of a car on a grade as a parking brake

3 - Will NOT work as an EMERGENCY brake if your brakes were to fail for reason 2 above

I had a TSM pinion brake on my '30 A-Bone. The rotor floated, so there was no trouble with binding. One good point is that braking power is amplified by the rear axle ratio. With 4:10 gears, it held my big block sedan on any hill I parked on. Not that I'm recommending it. It just worked for me.