MTFCA Forum

Hello again -

Tom wrote an article for his club's news letter which, I believe, I came across on this forum. I thought Tom had an elegant solution so I downloaded the article. I ended up buying an intact parking brake lever and apparatus on Ebay from a 1923 Model T and so far, I'm pleased with how this is turning out. I had the plates and bushing fabricated at a local shop. I'll be going back there so they can fabricate an actuation rod that looks like the actuation rods for the parking brake except the "hump" for clearance around the radius rod is in a different place (the conduit that comes with it just doesn't suit me). I haven't bent the lever yet. One thing I need to know before I start drilling holes is:

1) When the transmission is out of Ruckstell, I assume the lever on top of the differential is toward the rear, yes?
2) How much does the tip of the lever move ("throw") when the transmission comes from out of Ruckstell to in Ruckstell?
(Two - three inches maybe?)
3) How much "throw" is there at the top of the gear shift lever in the cockpit IOW, how far does your hand move? (Three to four inches, I'm guessing between in and out of Ruckstell?)

Hope this note finds you all in good health.

I attempted Tom's shifter modification BUT not enough room in the '19 Centerdoor as the body tapers significantly - hard enough to grab the hand brake lever !

Yeah, I think bending the handles properly is an important step to not scraping your knuckles on something all the time.

Absolutely!

The brake handle and release rod on my dad's roadster was set up like that - it had a very distinctive pair of angles bent to move the brake inward, to give clearance between the brake handle and the Ruckstell shifter next to it.