Steve Laifman wrote:
>When our company was doing a study (SNIP)
>One of them was the effectiveness of the "Parking Brake". It
>was never intended
Sounds like a disclaimer to me; sorta like those "show bars"
that most of us would call "roll bars", but that name implies a mfgr's
responsibility, I guess.
I'd guess that, with braking systems' slow evolution, that when
primary braking was no longer via a hand lever but a foot pedal, the
transition was gradual enough that most users expected the "hand brake"
to 'brake'. According to the unabridged dictionary I have here, the
various applicable definitions of the word refer to arresting or
stopping _motion_, not the prevention of motion in a stationery object.
Regardless, I doubt that any mfgr would attest that a
handbrake's purpose would be to stop a car. I'd use it for that, but
only in an 'emergency', hence the name.
> to be the "Emergency Brake" that many think of, but it's
> better than dragging your
> foot.
> The criteria we recommended was that the "Parking Brake",
> when engaged, hold an
> at-rest vehicle from motion on a 30% grade, facing either
> direction. If yours can
> do that, it's better than most.
Well, my car hasn't moved an inch. :^D
My earlier post about the rear calipers and the handbrake cable
was more in search of comments on the ability to release the caliper,
than to actuate it.
Anyhow, your 30%-grade criterion make sense -- if we get that
much -- and any car-retarding benefit we'll just have to consider a
bonus.
Bob Palmer wrote:
> Despite having spent a considerable number of hours working on the
> adjustment of these Fiat calipers, I have not been able to
> figure out how they are supposed to work.
Then we're all in trouble. :^)
> a bit more motion of the EB lever than the other to lock the rotor.
I guess you're not talking an extra 10% motion, but something so
different that it couldn't be adjusted out via the two cables.
> wanted them the same and to lock with a minimum (SNIP)
'Tis funny, I hadn't had high hopes for the hand-brake at all;
definitely not Steve's 30% figure. I mentioned this once before, I
think, but my old 1960 New Yorker, having no "park" position on the
tranny, relied on the H-B to hold the car. Once I left the car at
curbside, along a high hedge, when I when to pick up a blind date. When
the two of us got to street-side, the car was gone. The car had rolled
downhill, and hopped the curb just before it would've plowed into a
parked car, and came to rest in some old lady's front yard, out of sight
from where I was standing. I thought it had been stolen, and my panic
did not make a good 1st impression. All I lost was $75 to fix the old
lady's fence _and_ my faith in handbrakes; I haven't trusted one since.
Here I expect such great things from most of what I've done to
the Garage Queen, yet I am ready to dimiss the handbrake as an
it-ll-never-work.
> As far as the amount of friction with the pads, I wouldn't
> worry about that
> as it will probably loosen up as soon as you drive it a
> little,
Will do.
> One other thing: When you get the GQ on the road, try and
> rein in your
> enthusiasm and stay close to home for awhile until you are
> pretty sure
> everything is working OK.
Over the past 8 years, I've kept it so close to home that it
could have been an electric car on a long extension cord! Yeah, good
warning; I really need to budget some man-hours for "fettling" once on
the road, despite the fact I'm truly ready to do about anything but work
on cars.
> Have fun,
And I'm glad our newbie Tom Graham caught on to what we are
about before anyone posted "Torque the nuts to 40 foot-pounds" or "Then,
if you want to re-dye the hides", or "I guess you'll have to remove the
head".
Lawrence R. Wright, Purchasing Analyst
U S Office Products, Mid-Atlantic District
Formerly Andrews Office Products
larry.wright@usop.com (new)
Ph. 301.386.7923 Fx. 301.386.5333
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