Me and my parking brake...

[avocadofarmer]

Back in the 80's my dad had an F250 (6.9 IDI that he strapped a big turbo on!) and one time while on vacation in Colorado my Aunt got in to drive it, yanked on the parking brake release and the whole assembly shattered as it slammed back out. Perhaps the angst from that experience told to my younger self still hangs in the air...

I spend a lot of time on uneven ground. Both literally and metaphorically. I always use the parking brake, because I hate the sound and feel of having the weight of the truck hanging off the parking pawl in the transmission. In my old truck (2002 GMC) I could just release the parking brake without having to use my foot to slow its release. There was some sort of damper on there that kept the thing from just slamming back out. Apparently Ford forgot that feature. So every time I use the parking brake I put my foot on it, and pull the lever and let it back out slowly. This is a bit of a pain for a few reasons, but mainly I am tall and have long legs and doing this is awkward. I'd much prefer to just yank the release lever.

So...has anyone come up with a damper or cushion or something that might make this better somehow?

Am I crazy? What do you guys do?

 

[HvacSciGuy]

I guess Ford parking brakes have just always done that. My previous trucks were manuals, 2001 & 2004, so I used the parking brake a lot. Whenever I would release those they also slammed out. So I guess I got used to of it. I've never had an issue with one breaking tho.

 

[Canyon Trekker]

Back in the 80's my dad had an F250 (6.9 IDI that he strapped a big turbo on!) and one time while on vacation in Colorado my Aunt got in to drive it, yanked on the parking brake release and the whole assembly shattered as it slammed back out. Perhaps the angst from that experience told to my younger self still hangs in the air...

I spend a lot of time on uneven ground. Both literally and metaphorically. I always use the parking brake, because I hate the sound and feel of having the weight of the truck hanging off the parking pawl in the transmission. In my old truck (2002 GMC) I could just release the parking brake without having to use my foot to slow its release. There was some sort of damper on there that kept the thing from just slamming back out. Apparently Ford forgot that feature. So every time I use the parking brake I put my foot on it, and pull the lever and let it back out slowly. This is a bit of a pain for a few reasons, but mainly I am tall and have long legs and doing this is awkward. I'd much prefer to just yank the release lever.

So...has anyone come up with a damper or cushion or something that might make this better somehow?

Am I crazy? What do you guys do?

All my previous trucks were manual (Deja vu @HvacSciGuy ) I never had problems with engaging or disengaging, but the cable broke onetime on my 99, while driving a mountain trail. That was awkward... No place to pull over and stop without leaving it in gear, clutch pushed in, foot on brake, stop and release the clutch, then release the brake. The instantaneous drop back was enough to make your heart skip a beat. Starting back up was exciting...

 

[blumhagen]

With my 02 Silverado if I didn’t let it slam it would always leave the light on. Pretty annoying having mud go flying at me from my boot.

 

[texrun50]

On my two current trucks (‘19 250 KR, ‘22 250 LU Tremor) and three previous F-150s (two I kept past 11 yrs of age each, one a Raptor I only kept for 18 months), I use/d parking break every time. Regardless. Even in my garage. Just a habit I picked up from my granddad back when I learned to drive. I’ve always just pulled lever and let them pop out. Haven’t ever had one break. That’s just my experience.

 

[MTUcrash]

Back in the 80's my dad had an F250 (6.9 IDI that he strapped a big turbo on!) and one time while on vacation in Colorado my Aunt got in to drive it, yanked on the parking brake release and the whole assembly shattered as it slammed back out. Perhaps the angst from that experience told to my younger self still hangs in the air...

I spend a lot of time on uneven ground. Both literally and metaphorically. I always use the parking brake, because I hate the sound and feel of having the weight of the truck hanging off the parking pawl in the transmission. In my old truck (2002 GMC) I could just release the parking brake without having to use my foot to slow its release. There was some sort of damper on there that kept the thing from just slamming back out. Apparently Ford forgot that feature. So every time I use the parking brake I put my foot on it, and pull the lever and let it back out slowly. This is a bit of a pain for a few reasons, but mainly I am tall and have long legs and doing this is awkward. I'd much prefer to just yank the release lever.

So...has anyone come up with a damper or cushion or something that might make this better somehow?

Am I crazy? What do you guys do?

Without actually looking at mine at the moment, SMC (along with other suppliers) sells threaded shock absorbers for their rod and rodless air cylinders. Perhaps you could drill and tap the stop plate and install one of those to slow and stop it?

 

[BroncOh]

Here's a look at the OEM assembly. Everything is riveted together.

The actuator has a segment sprocket and a matching small sprocket.

If you could slow down the small sprocket with a custom rotary damper, you'd be in great shape.

 

[Winterized]

The only vehicle I've owned in the last 20 years that I can recall with a manual foot operated parking brake is my Power Wagon, and just like every other vehicle with that design going back to the 80's, I've pulled the release and let it snap to the top without any intervention. Never had a malfunction of any sort that I can remember.

 

[avocadofarmer]

Thanks for the replies. It probably isn't worth going crazy over I suppose. The only thing left that comes to mind is the trying to come up with some sort of cushion to deaden the blow where the lever meets the frame. You can see the stop there at the rivet on Bronc0's pic.