Hello everybody, I am wondering what is available for brakeing systems on a Ton Truck. I don't like the fact that the Rocky Mountian brakes won't hold in reverse or if they get wet.
Do any of the other systems work better? I am open to all suggestions and vendors
Thank You
Zach Kubesh
Zach I hear Texas T Parts is tooling up for disc brakes for the TT
That rumor is true. Ben told me about that at the Hillbilly Tour last week.
The TT ton truck emergency brake looks stout enough to me to use for a service brake. Has anyone tired this?
That's an interesting question, Ted. There has been a lot of discussion about the virtues and drawbacks of the various brands of period outside brakes (Rocky Mountain, Bennett, etc.), but I don't recall anyone talking about doing what you ask. I imagine it would take some custom linkage work, but it sounds doable. I wonder how well they would work.
To answer Zach's question directly, the only currently produced and available auxiliary brakes that I'm aware of for a TT are the Rocky Mountain brakes available from most of the vendors. Poor braking when backing is a particular problem in a TT that is used as a truck (heavy loads).
An alternative you might consider trying to find a used set of Bennett brakes for your truck. They are designed differently than the Rockies and provide equal braking forward and reverse. I have a set on my TT and know they work well. However, I imagine they have the same weakness when wet. I don't know because I never take my TT out in inclement weather (it has no top).
One more comment - You didn't say anything about your truck. If it's a stock TT with low ratio rear end gears and absent any overdrive your max. speed is a little under 20 MPH. Aux. brakes are a good feature but not critical in this case. On the other hand, if you have high ratio rear end gears and/or one or two overdrives you may have a truck that will do 50 MPH or more as well as have the possibility of getting stuck between gears. In this case I believe driving without good aux. brakes is just a form of eventual suicide.
Good luck and let us know what you end up doing!