MTFCA Forum

My chassis has no hand brake. I acquired several from Dave Huson in various states, settled on this one. The lever rod end that normally has a cotter pin is slightly broken off with no hole for a cotter. I can think of several ways of fixing this a) one of those circle retainers with teeth but I will have to figure out a size. b) a gob of steel from my welder wider than the hole. c) change out the rod for a new one. b) is the most available, a) is the least invasive but might not work so well, c) is a lot of work and the most expensive. Also how does the speed lever look in the picture? It looks ok to me not worn out. Opinions?

These are not hard to replace and don't require anything special to do. I even replace the pawl lever while I am at it.

If your total low buck on this, you said you had several, pull the rod from another one and just get the new rivet to attach it to the handle. To me that's the best cheapest solution. Sometimes trying to drill accurately through a welded up hole doesn't work so good.

Just my opinion

The cam is very easy to bend. No heat required. I used a medium size monkey wrench to straighten out the top where it rides against the bolt.

Cam lever looks long. Is it for a car or TT?

Good point Adam, it does look a bit tall. I want one of those for Lucky. Granted it could've been the camera making it look tall.
Ignacio, would you check how tall that cam is?

Not bad I think for a sometimes welder and a drill press.

The pawl is changed out with lots of pounding and heating. Was burning my fingers until I thought hey, gloves! Picture shows tools of the job. Next is the results. I measured the cam lever, they only differ by .1 of an inch 2.7-2.8 width, 3.7-3.8 height from the mount of the shaft to the top.