VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION New User Forum 1927 Truck handbrake

I am new to this forum and located in Australia and am reaching out for information.
I own a 1927 LM Capital Truck and has been in our family since new. I recently went to our barn to check the truck over to get it professionally restored and found some thieves had been and stripped it of a few parts. The hardest I am having trying to source is the emergency hand break.
Can anyone tell me how it was mounted to the gearbox. I assume it was mounted on the side of the gearbox. I have seen some handbrakes mounted via rivets to the housing below the gear lever however my gearbox has no rivet holes so assume it was mounted via bolts to the side.
If anyone has any photos or parts diagram it will help my search. Does anyone know if the handbrake was the same between cars and trucks or if the Truck was a different lever. As my truck is right hand drive I assume that there is a difference with the gearbox mounts having the lever mounted on the different side to a left hand drive truck.
I am willing to pay above the normal if anyone has a Handbrake lever for sale to suit my old lady.

Welcome to Chatter.
Your truck is 11 years older than mine but may well be similar and mounted on the left side of the gearbox. I dont know of any scources of those parts in Aus though swap meets occassionally can be a happy hunting ground. Getting parts from the US can be expensive so order a lot of parts in the 1 parcel makes shipping a little cheaper.
Tony

PM(the flashing red envelope symbol) sent Wandana.

Where in Australia are you. Will help with locating parts.

Thanks Steelin for the offer to help source a handbrake, sent you a pm not sure if it went through,
I live in Ceduna SA

According to the parts book both car and truck use the same brake lever. RHD and LHD levers are the same, just bolt on different sides of the gearbox. I would suggest joining a local car club if you haven't already as someone there will probably have one. Unfortunately I am a bit too far away as I would probably have one but would be too expensive to post and these are not a rare item.

Thanks Steelin Tim, I have been in touch with members in our local car club and been through all the local sources dumps and farm dumps in the area. Contacted a few other clubs, and gumtree suppliers of vintage parts and have drawn a blank. Found a couple levers but were unsure of the year and none had gearbox mounts. Plenty of earlier years with lever mounted in the center but have not been able to source a 1927 year with the mount on the side.
I am more than happy to pay the freight from WA if you happened to have one. I have been chasing one on and off for a few years now. This search has now lead me to this forum.
Like you I thought they would be easy to find, However due to low populations and poverty in the 20s and 30s not a lot of vehicles were around this area of SA. The fact that it was stolen from my shed under my nose makes me think they maybe harder to find than I thought.

This truck was the first mechanised vehicle in our family and on our farm. Lots of family tales and pride went into its purchase and it features in family photos throughout the decades. Was used daily on the farm until the late 60s.

According to my engine number TR 2736530 it was made in December of 1926 then shipped to Australia as a chassis. Elderly uncle tells me that the body was built by Holdens in Adelaide and shipped by sea to Ceduna.
From my research I assume that it would have been sold as a 1927 model even though engine was built late 1926. Would this be right would you or anyone know?

Hi Wandana,

It is great that this truck has such a rich history with your family. ;-)

I have a 1927 one ton truck and the transmission has emergency brake mounting holes on both right and left sides. From this I believe the castings were made to work for either RHD or LHD vehicles. I know of a couple of local guys that have parts trucks, but it would cost quite a lot to ship that handle/lever from California to Australia.

The engine number that you reference is stamped onto a boss, correct? The T means that the engine was destined for a truck, I think the R stands for RHD, and the 2736530 means that this block was the 2,736,530th four cylinder block that was cast since they started.

There is a casting date on the engine that should be near the distributor. It will be a letter, followed by a number, followed by another number. For example, if the characters are H 5 6, that translates to a casting date of August 5, 1926 (A=Jan, B=Feb, etc., the middle number is the day of the month, and the last number is the year).

Here is a posting that has a lot of casting info. It is noteworthy that your number 2736530 predates the 1927 engine numbers. https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/236884/re-1927-and-1928.html#Post236884

Cheers, Dean

Hi Rustoholic,
Thanks for the info, yes I had found that my engine number fits in with being made mid to late December 1926 before the Christmas shutdown.

I have cleaned the whole side of the motor down from the bell housing to the water pump and cannot find a casting number all I have is the raised step to the rear the distributer with the numbers hand stamped in. Would there be any reason why I cannot find a casting number. Have seen some photos of the casting numbers on other Chevs and have looked in the same area but the area is all smooth. Just wondering did some foundries not have a casting number?

Cheers Noel

Hi Rusaholic,Just wondering as my engine has block number 346709 and I have no casting numbers but my hand stamped numbers seem to relate to end November to early December as noted in the link you sent me.
Could my casting be a replaced casting. Do you know were castings ever sent out as a spare part without a casting number, then the mechanic hand stamped the number in to keep the age correct? In my research it seems factory stamped R.H. drive trucks were stamped RT...... my hand stamp is the other way around TR......could this be feasible?

Cheers Noel

I am thinking there is some confusion between casting numbers and casting dates in this thread. I am led to believe the casting number on your block is 346709 which according to my records is a 1926 -1927 block. The engine block serial number and head would determine if it was considered and 1926 or 1927 engine.

The corresponding head should be casting number 346886. Most iron castings had both a casting number and coded date. The date code was correctly explained by Dean (aka Rustoholic). I don't recall ever seeing an engine block that didn't have a casting date but it is possible that the code was not put into the mold when the block was cast. It is also possible that the engine serial number was incorrectly hand stamped (my understanding during that period they were all hand stamped) and the T and R reversed. Remember humans were involved!

If you do not find one in W.A. send me a pm and I can ship one from WA (Washington). Just like Dean I have some spare parts and you can have one. I am sure shipping will be quite steep. If you order anything large from the Filling Station let me know. I can run it down there and it should be able to be bunched in with that order. Would have to check with S.K. on that.

I am still struggling to get payment for some brake parts I shipped to Belgium so these parts being shipped to other countries may come to an end. This one was not a huge amount but I have about 4 hours into the project as well. Aggravating. I do not have paypal.

I am following the lead of a person who bought and sold parts on the honor system for many years Dick Oldenberg (Oldie) who would ship parts and if you were happy send payment for them. If not send them back.

On that thought I have tried to contact him in FL to make sure he and his family were okay after the recent surge in infections there. I have not heard back. Does anyone have some current information about him?

Art,

Nice that you remember me. We (the wife and I) have managed to get through the past couple of years without any health issues mainly by just staying away from everyone and masking up when leaving the house is necessary. Thanks for your concern. I still follow the VCCA activities on this site pretty much on a daily basis. The days of having a collection of early four cylinder vehicle parts are over. When I left Michigan my parts collection found its way into the garage of another VCCA member.

Dick

Will have a look layer today to see if I have one.

Hi Beachbum,
Thankyou very much for your very kind offer to supply a Handbrake lever.
Freight to Australia can sometimes take your breath away. I know I am in the Aviation industry and all our parts have to come in from the states. I have my fingers crossed we can still find one in Australia however if one isn't available I will be sure to contact you.

Regards Noel

Hi Chipper,
Thanks for the explanation when I get a chance I will look for the head number. It would be much easier if I had a casting number. Family records show it was bought new in 1927 by my Grandfather. It seems to be made on the change of models as some parts are 1926 and some are 1927. I can only assume they were using up 1926 parts to use them up. Or because of the delay of shipping between America and Australia it actually was a late 1926 then marketed in Australia as a 1927. It was imported into Australia by the Holden motor company as a Truck chassis and they manufactured the cab and tray in Adelaide South Australia.

I will try to watch this posting as to your progress.


Directed to Oldie,

I heard the Florida infection numbers given on the news so I sent a PM back on August 1st. Thought I would ask an insider their thoughts on what was going on down there. You usually have been quite quick in past responses so when I didn't hear anything back...

We are doing the same thing and still wearing our masks even though we both have had our vaccinations for months.

Can't find one in my shed. Try Chevparts in Yenora NSW. Ian may have one.

Thank you very much for having a look for me anyway. Contacted Chevy parts and he doesn’t have one, the search continues.

Anyone out there in Australia that has a emergency handbrake for a Chev Truck that bolts to the side of the gearbox please let me know.
Willing to pay for the right handbrake complete with gearbox mounting.