VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 1937 Chevrolet parking brake strut extensions and springs

Help! I have a 1937 Chevy coupe which is missing two 5.150 parking brake extension-struts and two 5.151 parking brake springs. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I cannot help you but I am sure others can. Just wanted to say welcome to the forum
CarDC

it was common for the struts to be removed when new brake shoes were insalled as the drum would not fit over the new shoes The struts were the same from 1936 to 1950.

Finally located and made on online purchase of the left and right parking brake extensions as well as 2 springs from a place in Portland, Oregon. Had new brakes installed and got the extension-spring set installed on the right side but the brake drum would no longer fit over the new brake shoes on the left side (as Gene had mentioned earlier) so had to forfeit installing the left extension and spring.

Did you adjust the eccentric on the parking brake actuating arm?

Rusty, we finally got back to working on the left extension-spring set. Realized today that the brake cable itself was seized in the “on” position. We got it moving, but there’s still a lot of resistance, so we’ll see if the parking brake sticks once it’s all back together.

Thanks for the update on your progress.

My unfortunate experience with parking brakes is that a sticking cable will create problems.

The spring that actually releases the parking brake is the one that is around the end of the cable that is connected to the arm on the rear brake shoe. That spring is compressed when you pull on the cable. That compression force pulls the cable into the front end of the extension housing when you release the hand brake lever.

This week I was dealing with the same problem on a different classic car. The approach I used was to disconnect the front end of the cable and pull it out the rear of the extension as far is I could. Then I could clean the part of the cable that is not normally exposed and put a light coat of grease on it. Then I pulled the cable forward into the housing as far as I could. After a few cycles of that things really worked smoothly.

Wow, thank you! We will surely give this a try soon!

Rusty, all of your same steps also worked for us. Both parking brakes are now working well. Many thanks to you!

Excellent! Thank you for letting us know about your success. It helps in the future when others review this thread.

Where did you get the struts & springs. I need both sides for my 49.
Those parts will fit 36-50 Passenger & 1/2 ton P/U .
Let me know . I would like these parts before I put my car on the road.

RBueno,

You should post in the “Parts Wanted” forum.

Oops! I see that you did that already. Thank you.