Renewing my Ford 3000 parking brake

I got my left brake pedal off. I let the shaft clamp soak for a couple of days with penetrating oil, then sharpened my beater wood chisel and tapped it between the pedal and the inside washer. That little bit of wedge action got her moving.

The point of this was to get at the teeth on the parking brake lock, in order to renew them. I've had this tractor for three years, and the parking brake has never held well.

Learned a couple of things...

A. The lock is riveted to the pedal, and if you really want to sharpen up the teeth, you'll have to drill out the end of the rivets and take it off.

B. I thought that I could replace the rivets with bolts. No dice. They aren't 3/8"...they aren't 5/16"...they aren't 10mm.

As nearly as I can tell, by testing with drill bit shanks, you would need a 21/64" or 11/32" to match the tightness of the rivet.

C. You can nicely sharpen the teeth by flipping your angle grinder on it's back, locking it on (with the speed control set on the lowest setting) and just free hand them with a thin cutoff wheel.

D. I had enough of the rivets left to re-use them. I just welded them in place. I don't think I'll have to worry about removing them 50 years from now...

You could have drilled the holes to the next standard size up and used bolts.

How many hours are on that tractor? The parking brake must have been used very often to wear the teeth that much. Or else someone didn't know how to use it correctly.

It would be a good time to extend the release leaver... The old one never bother me I did not use it much now that I have extended it I use it all the time...

https://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/viewtopic.php?t=1349453&highlight=parking

(quoted from post at 05:03:58 04/28/19)
It would be a good time to extend the release leaver... The old one never bother me I did not use it much now that I have extended it I use it all the time...

https://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/viewtopic.php?t=1349453&highlight=parking

Click to expand...

Yes sir. I read that thread before, and the handle extension is on my to-do list.

As for Sean's response, part of the problem with the parking lever is that the dog... caul?.... latch? wasn't lined up well with the teeth on the pedal. When it did catch, it was only catching by a slim margin along one side, and it would slip right off if you stepped on the running board and flexed it just a little.

The combination of not fully engaging and slipping off seemed to have rounded the teeth along one side and especially in the "favorite spot" which seemed to look like the most used spot on the teeth.

So...even with the teeth nice and sharp, it still wouldn't stay. If I stepped on the running board to test it, it would unlatch.

It latch was popping of toward the centerline of the tractor, because it only catches the edge of the teeth on the brake pedal

Seems I had a perfect storm going on. I stood on the side of the tractor and put all my weight on the floor board and noticed a little gap forming where my finger is pointing.

The bracket wasn't bending. The mounting bolt to the tractor frame was loose. So, I tightened that. I also slotted the square carriage bolt holes in the running board to allow myself to move the latch mounting bracket about a bolt width to the outside of the tractor.

Now...the latch lines up perfectly with the teeth

I also extended my handle (ok...this is only my second day with my stick welder...gluing together a few bolts freehand was a tough exercise...but I did it.)

I also can only go up about six inches, because of my aftermarket remote hydraulic spooler.

Now...I can set the latch and jump up and down on the running board... fait accompli

PS, I know this is sort of trivial. We have people splitting tractors. Heck, right behind my Ford 3000 in my own garage is a little Jinma 284 that I bought a rebuild kit for.

But...I use this 3000 all the time. I'm often by myself, and It is a royal pain in the backside to back up to the haynie, get the hitch aligned, put the tractor in gear...shut it off, so it stays put...then you take your foot off the clutch and brake...and the tractor rolls just enough (even in gear) to screw up your alignment.

The only thing that holds right where you want it is the parking brake.

Haynie = "haybine"...I had to teach my phone a new word.