OK... so I have to apologize for being a little dense here, I'm a retire electrical engineer and it just bugs me to not understand how and why something works (that I'm working on). I'm in no way doubting what you are saying is correct, I'm just trying to understand the operating principle as it makes backward sense to me :-(
Perhaps the rebuilder of mine did something stupid. On my setup, when the parking brake is set, it pushes the rod backwards towards the rear wheels. This rotates the pivot bar so the top U shape rotates towards the front. This action rotates the wheel line pivot towards the rear, pushing the line into the wheel assembly, which applies the braking action.
The spring applies force in this same direction. In other words, it pulls the rod rearward, which then rotates the rear pivot bar so as to engage the brakes. So it is applying rear (locking) force to the rod when the parking brake is set off (i.e. up all the way "up" in the cab). That translates to nearly engaging the parking brake in normal driving mode (parking brake up). I guess the saving grace here might be that when the parking brake is set "UP", there is sufficient holding force there so that it overcomes the spring force... and then when one does SET the brake, it happens easier and faster. Actually that makes a little sense (if correct).
Thanks for the comment on the rear pivot bar... guess I'm gonna have to pull it off anyway, and I need a pry bar to move mine back and forth with all the linkages removed. Bummer :-)
Hopefully though this discussion might help someone else in the future though, so thanks for the comments.
