December 6, 200619 yr I finally got a chance to play with my dual park brakes in the snow. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=6002&cat=500&size=medium What a sweet trick that is! I had to put it in 12" of snow, off-road, uphill, in two wheel drive to get it stopped/stuck. Then while spinning the wheels (not the ATV tires), I slowly lifted one park brake lever.... SWEET!!! I slowly began to move forward again as the spinning tire slowed and the stuck tire began to move again. This mod cost me $5. Best mod for the money in my book! I was amazed at how precise of control you can have over the wheels by doing this. It was not hard to operate, very simple to control. Had to tell someone. Glenn 82 SubaruHummer--snowmobile. 84 GL Mad Max--leaves green spots in the snow? 01 Forester--better not leave green spots in the snow!
December 6, 200619 yr yup, really gets usefull if you have actual foot pedals for the breaks. If you've ever driven a tractor you know what I'm talking about. I want to get a proportioning valve for my beast and hook that up to the brakes so I can just use a little toggle with my thumb on the steering wheel and the break pedal and keep my other hand free for the shifter/parking brake.
December 6, 200619 yr I want to get a proportioning valve for my beast and hook that up to the brakes so I can just use a little toggle with my thumb on the steering wheel and the break pedal and keep my other hand free for the shifter/parking brake. explain this in detail what parts does it take?
December 7, 200619 yr How did you hook up the cables? It's probably really simple, I just can't quite visualize it yet. Very cool! And yes, tractors are awesome! Nothing does donuts on ice like a Kubota.
December 7, 200619 yr well you already have 2 brake cables running right up to the handbrake lever all you need to do is bolt in a second lever and join the left cable to the left lever, and the right cable to the right lever. sweet82 could you please post a pic of the joiner you used to attach the cable to the lever (ive been meaning to do this for agers)
December 7, 200619 yr ok I got things confused a little bit after doing some reading... essentially what I want to do is retrofit some kind of electronic traction control, and have the option to manual control the brake distribution when wheels start spinning. It would take a lot of work to do to an older subaru I think due to lack of hardware and parts. anyways pics would be awesome, as with as much as I've thought about all these options, I have yet to actually do any of it. Oh one more idea, get manual cable brakes on all 4 wheels, and anchor them around a lever and attach them to it and have it operate somewhat like a joystick, pull back and to the right to apply pressure to the front left wheel, etc.... would be hard to use in a vehicle with a manual transmission however unless you made some electronic device that controls 4 electric motors connected to the cables and had the controller on the shifter or steering wheel. hmmm... I'm thinking now.
December 7, 200619 yr You could do it on the rear too with some nissan rear disc calipers. GD Wow! The first USMB'er w/ 4 Handbrake controls and the 2WD D/R Mod. wins!
December 7, 200619 yr essentially what I want to do is retrofit some kind of electronic traction control, and have the option to manual control the brake distribution when wheels start spinning. It would take a lot of work to do to an older subaru I think due to lack of hardware and parts. Heh - yeah good luck ETC is usually a function of the ABS controller. In fact I don't know of any system that isn't a function of the ABS controller. Since the ABS has the ability to apply the brakes, it only made sense to add another chip for ETC. You need wheel speed sensors, and the biasing in the sofware.... you would have to customize it or you would have to find a vehicle with similar sized brakes, and with similar weight distribution. GD
December 7, 200619 yr Heh - yeah good luck ETC is usually a function of the ABS controller. In fact I don't know of any system that isn't a function of the ABS controller. Since the ABS has the ability to apply the brakes, it only made sense to add another chip for ETC. You need wheel speed sensors, and the biasing in the sofware.... you would have to customize it or you would have to find a vehicle with similar sized brakes, and with similar weight distribution. GD well at least the manual cable idea is somewhat doable... I need to pick up a set of rear disks anyways for the hatch, plan on turning that into a street machine rather than going the 4wd route... so I might as well pick up 2 or 3 sets next time I'm at the junkyard. As far as adapting brakes from a differant vehicle, it isnt that hard to put an adjustable proportioning valve in to adjust the bias to the rear brakes; so as far as I'm concerned it would be more a matter of ease of fitment than having the right bias... thats adjustable, although it wont be near as perfect you can get it pretty close with a little bit of work
December 7, 200619 yr I put one of these on the rear it works, but requires a ton of hand leverage to overcome the wheel spin, this was on a ea82 with drum brakes if there was a way to get more leverage and maybe better brakes like discs I think it could be handy I have one on my dune buggy and its awesome
December 8, 200619 yr Wow! The first USMB'er w/ 4 Handbrake controls and the 2WD D/R Mod. wins! Yeah all you need to work it is another set of arms...:-p
December 8, 200619 yr SO COOL I grew up driving tractors, and have had this idea for years. Nice to see that someone made it work so well!
December 8, 200619 yr Author A picture is worth a thousand words. I can't get a pic at the moment.:-\ I used two subaru parts. The hand brake lever was one part and the adapter for the two brake cables to the hand brake lever was the other part. All parts purchased as one unit from the JY. I hooked the two cable adapters together on their inboard side. I hooked the cables to the adapter on the outboard side. The park brake levers pull from their normal position in the center of each cable adapter. You can't hook the cables directly to the hand brake lever or you'll loose your ability to adjust the tension on the cables. Eventually I'd like to fabricate an "L" shaped bracket and see if this will pull the cable straight without bending the brake cable or the adjusting bolt threads on the had lever. Until that time this configuration works. As I have it configured it pulls straight and does not want to bend any cables or tensioning rod/threads/levers. Does this make any sence? Glenn
December 8, 200619 yr Author Here is a diagram. This may make more sense. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=13634&cat=500 With the rear end locked and traction control up front your only limited by your power. Best $5 mod I've ever done. The park brake handle allows hands off driving because the brake lever can lock in any given position. This allows hand on steering wheels and gear shifters. You reposition the handle or release it when you want.
December 8, 200619 yr When I did mine, I made a pair of little L shaped bracket gizmos to pull on the cables. I don't have a picture but they were sort of like fender washers with a split fork sticking out one side. The fork part was curved to pull on the cable lugs much like a clutch fork. Worked great and allowed easy adjustment of cable tension. Working the dual e-brake while driving... now that's the fun part. Maybe need a co-driver to work the traction control unit? Can you imagine the look on peoples faces when they see four e-brake levers? That alone would make it worth doing.
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