[DeTomaso] Anyone using a Electric Parking Brake actuator?

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/15/10 17 20 30, peter-kovacs at sbcglobal.net writes:


> A vendor installed a small handled line lock style parking brake on my 
> 73. Press
> the brake, flip the lever, lift your foot.....exit the car. Worked
> great.................................until I came out to the car after 
> work and
> my car was across the lot against the curb with the cover still on it. The
> hydraulic pressure must have bled down. Missed the concrete base of a 
> light pole
> by less than 2 feet. Proceed with caution.
> 

Yes--any hydraulic parking brake is a bad idea.   That's not what they are 
manufactured for anyway.   Line locks are designed for short-term use on the 
front wheels of drag cars.   It's to enable easy burnouts.   Come up to the 
box, set the front brakes, roast the rear tires, then release.   It's only 
designed to work for a few seconds at a time, not as a long-term device.

And no matter what kind of parking brake you have, parking any manual 
transmission car in neutral is crazy, if it's on even the slightest slope.

Mike (half my cars have no parking brake, none has ever rolled anywhere...)