neil morse Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 1 hour ago, Ben Bruce aka First Born said: Neil, may I ask where you obtained the shiny one? Looks better made than most. Ben I will have to look back and see if I can unearth the origin of those shock links. I suspect I got them from Bob's, but I can't remember for sure. I will let you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shootey Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 On 3/28/2024 at 9:28 AM, neil morse said: On 3/27/2024 at 10:08 PM, kgreen said: “Ah ha, the photo above shows your trick to eliminate the clang of the emergency brake hitting the torque tube on a road bump.” Shootey here. After reading about the belling or clanging of the parking brake against the torque tube I looked at how my car was set up. Below is a photo of my front parking brake cable and it’s bracket attached to the torque tube. Notice that there is an extension added to the bracket which lowers the entire cable an inch. This is the same bracket shown in Neil’s photo with the grommet. By lowering the cable, more room is created to prevent the cable from slapping against the torque tube. Ignore the nut you see in the photo. It is part of the cobble job on my setup and it, I think, gave more length to the front cable by mating some threaded rod to the threaded portion of the front cable. I’m speculating that the front cable the prior owner used was several inches too short. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil morse Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 @Ben Bruce aka First Born, yes, those shock links came from Bob's Automobilia. https://bobsautomobilia.com/shop/suspension-steering/shock-links-1941-53-see-list-sl-412/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil morse Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 2 hours ago, Shootey said: Shootey here. After reading about the belling or clanging of the parking brake against the torque tube I looked at how my car was set up. Below is a photo of my front parking brake cable and it’s bracket attached to the torque tube. Notice that there is an extension added to the bracket which lowers the entire cable an inch. This is the same bracket shown in Neil’s photo with the grommet. By lowering the cable, more room is created to prevent the cable from slapping against the torque tube. It's interesting that we have now identified two very simple and different ways that people came up with to deal with the clanging of parking brake cable on the torque tube. You would think that Buick would have changed things to eliminate the problem! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 On 3/28/2024 at 12:28 PM, neil morse said: Yes, but that is not my trick. That was the fix that was installed by a previous owner -- very simple, a length of heater hose and two zip ties. I read somewhere the torque tube was sometimes referred to as the "Buick bell" because of the clanging sound produced by the cable equalizer hitting the tube. I did something similar to eliminate that 'clang' on my '38. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil morse Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 Buttoned Back Up I put the cover back on this morning. I made two guide pins by sawing the heads off two bolts to help keep everything lined up. I put a thin coating of black Permatex on the gasket and stuck it on. Next, hung the cover on over the guide pins, coated the threads of the bolts with a bit of Permatex, and bolted everything up. The guide pins made the whole thing easy as pie. I will let everything cure overnight and then fill it up with this GL-4 80W-90 gear oil. I opted for the GL-4 after doing some reading on the forum to make sure I was using something that was okay for yellow metals. A good day. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shootey Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Here is a bit of trivia. My car has the brake line routed around the top of the diff housing with a single clip at the 12 o’clock position. Neil’s is routed across the housing with two clips, one on each side. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil morse Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 For whatever it's worth, the shop manual shows the brake line routed like mine. I filled it up with the new gear oil this morning. I know I was using the right stuff because I felt nauseous for an hour after the job! Now I just have to watch for leaks and hope I don't see any. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil morse Posted April 8 Author Share Posted April 8 More on Parking Brake Clanging When we were having the discussion about the "Buick bell" phenomenon earlier in this thread, the ever sharp-eyed Thom @Shootey pointed out to me that there was actually a part on the parking brake diagram in the shop manual that was missing from my car. It turns out that this part is, in fact, what the Buick engineers came up with to prevent the clanging of the Buick bell. They are available from Cars, Inc. and they look like this: https://oldbuickparts.com/product/brake-cable-buffer-3/ I ordered one and installed it today. Sure enough, it prevents the "yoke" of the parking brake cables from hitting the torque tube. In the earlier discussion, several people mentioned a "rubber grommet." I just assumed they were talking about the grommet, seen in the top of the photo above, where the threaded shaft goes through the ring attached to the torque tube. If anyone was talking about the "buffer," I apologize for not getting it. In any event, it turns out that Buick had a factory solution to the "clanging" problem, but one that probably didn't hold up too long as the rubber doughnut eventually deteriorated and fell off. In any event, in the interest of authenticity and correctness, I have substituted the buffer for the DIY heater hose solution that the previous owner had installed. 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 15 hours ago, neil morse said: It turns out that this part is, in fact, what the Buick engineers came up with to prevent the clanging of the Buick bell. They are available from Cars... Well now, that's good to know - thanks, Neil! I'll have to look and see whether there's anything like that shown in my '38 shop manual... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebastienbuick Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 Thank you very much for this information ! Indeed on my parents' 1941 Buick there was the handbrake cable which hurt the torque tube and I didn't know that originally there was this rubber washer. So I attached the cable so that it no longer moves, but now that I know that there was this rubber washer originally, we are going to order this part ! . THANKS ! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonMicheletti Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 '38 shop manual does not show that grommet (or doughnut) in Fig. 5-6 nor 5-18 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil morse Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 What a coincidence -- I was just writing this post based on an email exchange I had with Don. Don is too polite to say anything critical here, but he pointed out to me that I actually installed the rubber doughnut incorrectly. I couldn't really tell from the shop manual exactly where it was supposed to go (the drawing is pretty difficult to interpret clearly), but as Don pointed out, the doughnut should be sandwiched in between the metal clip holding the return spring and the "equalizer" (which I called the "yoke" in my earlier post). That way the doughnut is held in place and can't "wander" up the threaded rod. However, as a practical matter, I can tell you that the hole in the doughnut fits very tightly on the threaded rod. In fact, it had to be spun on there like a nut. So I don't think it's actually going anywhere. I have to admit I'm still a bit surprised that these rubber doughnuts seemed to deteriorate so fast back in the day that so many Buicks had the clanging bell problem. It may be that the reproduction sold by Cars, Inc. is an improved version, but it is very hard rubber and quite thick and robust. I know we can't compare our "pampered babies" to cars that were driven thousands of miles in a year, but I would have expected the doughnuts to have lasted longer. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonMicheletti Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 The doughnuts must have been pretty poor because that "bell" was very common to hear on Buicks. You just gotta be old enough to have heard them. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shootey Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 My 1960 chassis master parts book lists the buffer as follows: ”4.784 Buffer, Hand Brake Cable 1304505 1938 thru 1958 (5/16”I.D x1 1/2” O.D x 1/4” rubber)” 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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