What is the difference between the parking brake vs the E brake? What are your opinions and do all cars have both? I will tell you mine after I get a few responses.

Early cars had a foot pedal as well as a hand brake. Typically the foot pedal braked the driveshaft and the hand braked the wheel brakes. So the backup was already in place even in the earliest of cars. Calling it a parking brake was advised by the legal departments of car makers since it was far …

No, I don’t have a source. It’s just what I was told in the '60s.

[image] George_San_Jose1: I presume by “mechanical backup” you mean cable-operated. No, I don’t mean cable operated. I mean a mechanical linkage, not a cable. I’m certainly not an authority on the brakes of cars from a hundred years ago. This is stuff I was told years ago by mechanics that w…

[image] JayWB: I mean a mechanical linkage, not a cable. A cable IS a mechanical linkage by definition. Cable brakes were used as primary apply mechanisms on many early cars. Brakes and other safety systems were not regulated by the US until 1967.

[image] Mustangman: A cable IS a mechanical linkage by definition +1 Yes, mechanical, rather than hydraulic or electrical/electronic.

There were some by metal rods. There were combinations of cables, pulleys and tension and torsion rods. The key to adding brakes to the front wheels was developing a mechanism that doesn’t inadvertently apply the front brakes when your turn the steering wheel. BTW The first power brakes operated o…

I stand corrected. I was referring to mechanical rods. I’ve never seen or heard of a car with a cable used as a service brake. Parking / emergency brake: sure. I’d never trust a cable for normal service brake use on anything with a motor, even the cables on bicycle brakes are suspect, Ive seen many…

[image] George_San_Jose1: but it wouldn’t have to be done that way, could presumably use metal rods, or other shaped parts. Cable makes it a lot easier. Metal rods don’t work very well in twists and turns of a long run.

[image] JayWB: In any case, I was relating what I’d been told many years ago Just trying to inform, not criticize. My first motorcycle (a 71 Honda) had cable brakes with drum brakes on each end! All my bikes, of course. Cables can be a reliability issue but no more so than hydraulic seals, …

Parking brake Vs E brake

General Discussion

George_San_Jose1 June 12, 2023, 9:33pm 31

My understanding is the main mechanical linkage was by cable in most pre-hydraulic systems, but it wouldn’t have to be done that way, could presumably use metal rods, or other shaped parts. Somehow the motion from the brake pedal has to end up at the part with the braking surface is all.

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Parking brake Vs E brake

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