The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline 1950 3100 parking brake adjustment

I need some help on the parking brake adjustment. After the brakes are adjusted the parking brake still does not hold on a slope. The manual says the adjustment is made by shortening the length of the cable pulling on the brakes on both side of the truck by turning the clevis. Is this the only adjustment?

Darren, Just to confirm, your brakes are still the original Huck style and haven't been upgraded to later Bendix style??? From what I can see in the Shop Manual, that is not the only adjustment point for the parking brakes on the 1948-50 Huck parking brakes. See page 5-22 and the "PARKING BRAKE TOGGLE LEVER ADJUSTMENT" along with Fig. 45 that details a required adjustment anytime the rear shoes are installed/replaced. Seems like this must be done after the brakes hydraulic adjustments are done and before the cable adjustment. Hope this helps???

Still original Huck style brakes. Thanks for the info. I’ll give this a try today.

You need to be aware that Huck brakes usually need a period of "wearing in" to full contact with the drums before either the service brakes or the parking brake achieves full effectiveness. That usually requires repeated adjustments for the first few miles of operation. The only way to shortstop that process is to grind or sand the brake linings to match the radius of the drum. I like to stick a piece of coarse sandpaper to the drum with water-soluble glue and scuff the linings into full contact with the drum before installing the shoes. Then use boiling water to remove the sandpaper.
Jerry

The rod which goes between the brake pedal lever and the crossbar behind the cab needs to be adjusted properly as well.
You also need to pull really hard on those cables to make sure that the shoes are contacting the drums before attaching the cables to the crossbar levers.
I recommend that you read The Book several times as there are a lot of steps in the process setting up the parking brakes.
You may even want to write out the process in your own words so that it makes more sense to you. I find that this helps me understand the process of many repairs described in the book, not just brakes.

Zen and The Art of Stovebolt Maintenence

Discovered that the screw slot of the eccentric bolt is broken on one side so I can’t break the bolt loose. I hope find a replacement. Any suggestions on finding one is welcome.

Take an undamaged one to your favorite machinist. He can make a replacement.
Jerry

Darren, Another option is to post an ad in our Truck Pats Wanted forum. I recall several folks recently talking about converting their earlier Huck brakes to Bendix style and some of those folks may have just what you need.