Inline Tube - Gimme A Brake
Inline Tube offers solutions to parking brake woes.
One of the largest problems under your
classic car or truck is the frozen parking brake cables. Over the years the
inside cable attracts moisture begins to rust and expands to freeze the cable
solid in place. Once the cable is stuck the only solution is to replace the
cable with a new one. The problem is many cars are over 20 years old , so cables
are no longer available. There is a company that can help. Inline Tube makes all
obsolete cables for your classic car. The company makes identical original steel
cables as well as an impressive stainless cable. The stainless cable will never
rust or freeze up again. Cables are made for production cars and trucks from the
50's to the 90's.
The biggest reason for parking brake systems that do not work is frozen cables which we talked about and missing hardware. A common problem with cables not fitting properly is that they are installed incorrectly or missing hardware.
Lets talk about a typical system. The system has a front cable which hooks to the pedal assembly in the cab of the car. The other end of the front cable hooks to the intermediate cable that loops around to connect the rear cables, that in turn pulls on the drums or discs when the system has pressure applied to the pedal. System hardware is usually missing from loose cables. Your car hits a bump in the road and the hardware bounces out of place and is now missing in action on the side of the road. The hardware in most systems takes up the slack and also holds the cables away from drive shafts, exhaust, transmission cross mounts Etc. With out the necessary hardware the slack in the system is beyond adjustment. Pictured below is a typical brake cable layout.
A computer blueprint is complied using the measurements from the original cable.
Every detail from the original cable is measured and drawn into the computer.
Cables look impossible to duplicate but once broken down to it simple parts we
take it one step at a time. Stainless parking brake cables are made from some
wire, Teflon tube, end stops, and a whole lot of engineering.
The wire is straightened, cut to length, and
assembled on a mandrel over a Teflon tube which is clamped on one end. The wire
is the exact size and number so once bound each wire presses on each other to
form a perfect circle around the inner tube.
The cable is now spun on equipment to make the outer casing. This casing is a
series of wires with one wire holding them together. On the left is the finished
cable and the right is all the loose wires before winding.
The outer cable is now made and the mandrel is slipped out and what remains is
the flexible outer shielding which the inner cable smoothly runs thru.
Finished outer shielding is now ready for the different ends to be put on
Cables ends are pressed on to finish the end. I find this part amazing ,all that
is holding the end on is pure friction. The metals are pressed so tight they
form together. No bolts, no glue, just friction. Stuff we all learned about in 9
grade science class.
Now that the end is pressed and the rubber dust boot is installed the inner
cable is ready to be slipped in. The cable is sliding in the Teflon tube. The Teflon
out performs the original rubber and provides a slicker surface for the cable to
slide on.
After this operation you can call the
cable done. This is the end stop that again is pressed on with 20 tons of
pressure. This is equal to 4 Chevelle's stacked on one another. This end is then
tested to 1000 lbs of pressure, three times what will be applied once the cable
is installed in car.
The cable is now complete and inspected to the tolerances
of the blue print.
In this view we can see the modified rear drum to disc conversion where a custom
cable was made to accommodate the caliper with built in parking brake cable
feature. The factory cables are the same configuration ends, but a couple of
inches longer to reach the new caliper.
As you can see the cable is the perfect length. With too little cable, it may
not reach the caliper. With too much cable it could bow the cable and interfere
with the suspension components. The rubber shielding is applied anywhere the
cable has a chance to rub on the control arm or frame.
From start to finish Inline Tube can help in your custom or stock cable
replacement.
Source:
Inline tube
15066 Technology Drive
Shelby Twp, MI 48315
586 532 1338
www.Inlinetube.com
