Any reason for hand brake to come towards the rear past verticle?

[signsup]

Got the steel trim kit for the pedals and the one for the hand brake and the floor board on this Depot Hack donor is slotted way past the verticle towards the rear and all the way off the main flat floor board. My trim ring, when slipped over the top of the handle, seems to want to not allow the handle past the berticle to the rear.
My fix would be to recut the floorboard, but before I do that, want to check in the forum members in case this handle needs to come back for any reason. Don't know why PO had it cut so far back. Can't imagine it made it easier to get it and out of car on the drivers side, but who know why Bubba does what Bubba does.

I'll hang up and listen.

[varmint]

Mine (26 coupe) goes rear past vertical...but the hand lever and transmission linkages are merely assembled, not adjusted yet according to the book. So, I will be listening in on this one.
Vern

[Moxie26]

Handbrake vertical, transmission is in neutral..... Handbrake further back towards the seat engages the parking brake. If the handbrake touches the drivers seat, the brake rods have to be adjusted shorter so the emergency/hand/ parking brake engages.

[Steve Jelf]

Yes, straight up should be neutral. With parking brakes fully engaged, the handle should be back near the seat.

[George Mills]

Moxie & Steve have it...

Set vertical for neutral position...then pull past vertical for the service brakes to grab.

Hits the seat before brakes can stop the rotation? Change the turnbuckle clevis linkage on each side underneath maybe one turn at a time until it does.

(I got so frustrated the first time I did this as you have to take apart the clevis fork each time by removing the pin...that I did something that made sense to me...not original, but worked. Got one of those double ended turnbuckles for a screen door....cut and threaded the actuator rods to match the threads and give space. Then, Leave the fork clevis alone, back off each end added jam nut on the rod, use a screwdriver to turn the turnbuckle body either way until...happy with the action, run the jam nuts in and lock them up tight! Is mechanically the same as double nutting! <w>)

[John kuehn]

Take out the floorboards and adjust the linkage per the Ford manual instructions. All the way forward is the car is in gear. Straight up the car is in neutral. About 1/2 way back you should have a good solid brake. Maybe less than that.
If the brake rods, rear shoes, and transmission linkage are adjusted OK you’re good to go.


.

[RajoRacer]

I set my neutral to be just forward of straight vertical w/h.b. locking up a few more notches toward the seat - a little more tricky with a R.M.
equalizer !

[signsup]

Hmmm...I've got a feeling that the floorobards were cut to fit the Depot Hack kit body and the handle works as it should, but my metal cover trim plate will not fit this large flat floor board.
Sounds like the handle is supposed to come much further back from verticle than it goes forward. As only a slight forward handle movement will engage the cluth and put the car in gear. Straight up is nuetral and further back engages the parking brake and the backward movement can be adjusted by the brake rods.

So, I'll have to give this some thought. I've got to cut one of the forward floor boards with more of a notch to fit the grills, so I may just start over and make all new floorboards.

I've come this far on the ambulance project with all my fingers intact, so a little more table saw work might be OK.
Thanks to all who responded.

[Wayne Sheldon]

Neutral position is permanently preset by the cam/arm position on the cross shaft. Neutral should be at the top curved flat barely past the ramp. Short of using a torch to bend the arm significantly, that position is not significantly adjustable. At first neutral, the lever should be somewhat forward of vertical.
Personally, I like the brake to engage nearly fully at vertical. That position gives maximum advantage to your arm for braking power and control in an emergency. One should get and be used to using the emergency brake before one needs it.
The slot in the floor however, should be long enough to allow the brake lever to pull farther back than best adjustment requires. (Because as we all know, things aren't always adjusted properly and promptly?)

[signsup]

Well, I've got new clivis pins and hangers and hardware for the brake rods, so sounds like a job for tomorrow and thenI can adjust brakes and the clutch throw and then worry about my trim plate.
The two for the upper boards aren't fitting either, so each notch needs to be deepened and sanded slightly to get the trim plates to but together nicely.

But, it's all good. Beats mowing the lawn.

[Norman Kling]

It is even possible that the seat in your ambulance is farther forward than the original seat. There are two important things about the brake adjustment. 1. The rods should be adjusted short enough that when the handle is all the way forward. 2. The bolt must be on the ramp when in neutral or high. So when adjusted properly, the rods will not hit the hogs head when pulled back and the bolt will be behind the ramp. This usually leaves the neutral just ahead of vertical. The plate should fit just fine to the floorboard unless the body is made so the floorboard is higher from the quadrant than the original floorboard. If the body is higher, the lever will move farther front to back and the plate will be too short.
Norm

[CudaMan]

Here is an alternate brake rod adjustment method that I use to ensure that the rods don't end up too long and keep the brake lever from going fully forward, causing the high gear clutch pack to slip:

https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/5 ... 1420743911