# Parking brake pedal disassembly



## GTO Yeah (Dec 6, 2021)

Does anyone know how to get the parking brake pedal assembly apart? I can't tell what type of fasters hold it together, but mine is in rough shape. I've tried working it loose with a flat head, but no luck so far.


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## Sick467 (Oct 29, 2019)

There's not much in your photos to take apart except the two nuts, the rubber stopper, the spring, and the switch & bracket. Unless you want to grind rivets off and that leaves me without any advice other than get the tools to reapply the rivets if they are even available. The items with the cross in them are rivets. I sandblast the units whole and paint. Electrolysis or a rust remover might free it up if it is seized.


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## GTO Yeah (Dec 6, 2021)

Sick467 said:


> There's not much in your photos to take apart except the two nuts, the rubber stopper, the spring, and the switch & bracket. Unless you want to grind rivets off and that leaves me without any advice other than get the tools to reapply the rivets if they are even available. The items with the cross in them are rivets. I sandblast the units whole and paint. Electrolysis or a rust remover might free it up if it is seized.


Ah, I was afraid of that. It's not working at all, so I guess I'll have into look into some options for getting it back together once the rivets are off. Thanks!


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## Sick467 (Oct 29, 2019)

I'd try a WD soak and some heat before I busted the rivets out. Once is is freed up...the rust and crud will clean/sand up the rub points. It will get smoother the more you work it. You just have to get it moving. I have heard good things about Evapo-Rust too, never tried it, but I would on that.


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## GTO Yeah (Dec 6, 2021)

Thanks! I'll give the WD40 a shot first.

Not sure if it's the same type of thing, but I've started using Krud Kutter on some other parts and it works fantastically.


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## michaelfind (Dec 14, 2018)

Electrolysis will be easier and probably cheaper than tearing it apart and reassembling


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## GTOJUNIOR (Aug 7, 2011)

I use deep cooking pans and soak parts like that in...


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## 1970BurgundyJudge (8 mo ago)

I would media blast it and then soak in Evapo Rust. Once it is loose you can get the area covered by the arm too.Take the switch off first. I'd say take the spring off too if a replacement can be found.


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## Duff (Jan 12, 2020)

I'm just finishing up the PB assembly on my 66, it looked as bad or worse than yours, and I thought about finding a better one. But, before I did that, I put it in a TupperWare container full of vinegar and snapped the lid closed, came back in three days and it looked almost new, and the mechanism was freed up. I scuffed and primed it yesterday, and will paint it silver/black next Week. It was a cheap and effective process.


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## GTO Yeah (Dec 6, 2021)

Duff said:


> I'm just finishing up the PB assembly on my 66, it looked as bad or worse than yours, and I thought about finding a better one. But, before I did that, I put it in a TupperWare container full of vinegar and snapped the lid closed, came back in three days and it looked almost new, and the mechanism was freed up. I scuffed and primed it yesterday, and will paint it silver/black next Week. It was a cheap and effective process.


Thanks for the recco. I think I'm gonna start with the vinegar like you. I've been using Krud Cutter on some other parts, but it's been leaving behind a white film that I'm worried will gum things up even further.

I haven't tried electrolysis yet, but that might be my next shot if the vinegar doesn't work.


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## Sick467 (Oct 29, 2019)

The trick with electrolysis is that the effected areas (de-rusted areas) are line of site with the anode/s. That part has quite a few hidden, tucked away areas that might be hard to de-rust with electrolysis. A cage of sort would be a better anode compared to a few rods (or whatever).

I think you'll have great success with vinegar or Evapo-Rust. 

I suggest you neutralize the part after the vinegar treatment with a gallon of water with a cup of baking soda mixed in (soak for 10 minutes or so with the occasional exercising of the linkages).


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## Duff (Jan 12, 2020)

GTO Yeah said:


> Thanks for the recco. I think I'm gonna start with the vinegar like you. I've been using Krud Cutter on some other parts, but it's been leaving behind a white film that I'm worried will gum things up even further.
> 
> I haven't tried electrolysis yet, but that might be my next shot if the vinegar doesn't work.
> [/QUO, Using vinegar, my original tri power screens came out really nice, I use it on most all small parts. Sometimes, I have to repeat the process, but usually 1 3-4 day soak is all that's required.


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## 1969GPSJ (Feb 26, 2020)

not sure if you have ever tried Fluid Film,? work good on bare metal I got some from Lowe's , they also make it on Black now


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## goat671 (Apr 13, 2019)

How about trying to soak it in molasses 7 : 1 with water? Less metal loss then vinegar.


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## GTO Yeah (Dec 6, 2021)

goat671 said:


> How about trying to soak it in molasses 7 : 1 with water? Less metal loss then vinegar.


Thanks for the suggestion! I've already got the parts soaking in vinegar, but I'll be sure to keep that in mind for some of my other parts.


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## GTO Yeah (Dec 6, 2021)

Status update. The parts have been soaking in apple vinegar for a couple days. I like what I see. I have to flip them each day as I didn't get enough vinegar, but it looks like it's working! I'll clean them up a bit more with some 120 grit before priming and painting.


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## jmd55 (Oct 30, 2021)

hi you can try to soak it in muriatic acid get it at Lowes let it sit maybe overnight rinse in baking soda blow dry with air or hair dryer if no compressor if it free spray it with duplacolor cast blast did my seat tracks in my 66 like this and they look new and work new spray them with wd or crc after paint good luck


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## Duff (Jan 12, 2020)

Get more vinegar, submerge the parts, seal the lid, check them in 3-4 days.


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## GTO Yeah (Dec 6, 2021)

jmd55 said:


> hi you can try to soak it in muriatic acid get it at Lowes let it sit maybe overnight rinse in baking soda blow dry with air or hair dryer if no compressor if it free spray it with duplacolor cast blast did my seat tracks in my 66 like this and they look new and work new spray them with wd or crc after paint good luck


The muriatic acid makes me a little nervous. That stuff is pretty caustic, yea? I was thinking of using it on the hood which has some pretty deep pitting (but only for 30 mins at a time).

What did you do you refinish your seat tracks after soaking? Prime and paint? Or just spray with WD?


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## GTO Yeah (Dec 6, 2021)

Duff said:


> Get more vinegar, submerge the parts, seal the lid, check them in 3-4 days.


I think I'll finish them in the blasting cabinet. I'm pretty happy with how much of the scaling it got off.

That was after about day 3 of rotating them each day. I didn't realize how expensive vinegar got! It's $5 a quart where I'm at!


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## GTOJUNIOR (Aug 7, 2011)

You should drive those pivot sleeves out and also remove those white bushings.


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## Sick467 (Oct 29, 2019)

Just some tips for those who want to try using the muriatic acid...

*SAFETY FIRST*


Never do this in an enclosed area. Outside is a must and a light breeze is preferred to take the fumes away from you ore your building.
Always wear full clothing, goggles, thick rubber gloves...protect your self as much as you can. A drop of the pure stuff on your skin will light your fire. Not to mention what it will do to your eyes. The fumes can be BAD for the eyes and lungs.
To help reduce the possibility of injury and eating the part to nothing, mix the acid with water. I use 2 parts pool acid with 3 parts water. There are many ratios suggested, it depends on the strength of the acid to begin with and the speed of rust removal you are comfortable with. The weaker the solution the longer it takes to work, but the less dangerous it is to the user.
*Always add acid to water, not the water to the acid. *Adding the acid to the water reduces the reaction's heat, fumes, and rick of splatter and "boiling".
Do enough research to make sure you cover all the safety aspects of dealing with acids!

I have used this method for items as large as exhaust manifolds and tubs of brackets and bolts (not critical bolts). With the 2 parts acid with 3 parts water, a fresh batch will clean up a 40 year old rusty manifold in about 4 hours. I check the parts every 30 minutes, flip, rotate, maybe even rinse off and wire wheel the worst of the rust to speed the bad spots up and reduce the metal loss of the not so bad areas.

After the acid treatment, I soak the parts in a water bath that has baking soda or washing soda in it to neutralize the acids. The soda bath should be done for 5 to 10 minutes with some occasional agitation. The whole process will leave a discoloration of the metal (especially cast iron) and want to flash rust fast. Then dry and wire wheel the parts or even give them a light sandblasting. 

The left over acid and water solution can be put back into a heavy plastic jug and reused several more times. It just takes longer as the acid gets more used. If you wish to dispose of the acid, the acid can neutralized and poured out into the gravel drive or down the drain.  I'll leave disposal research to you, but it can be safely disposed without environmental concerns.

It's a lot of work, but has it's place when you can let the acid do most of the work while you are doing other things.

My preference is sandblasting, but that does not get the impossible to reach areas like vinegar, evapo-rust, or acid solutions.


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## Bigfoot1965 (Mar 25, 2021)

A lot of good advice already, but I don't have the patience for the soaking exercise. These parts are exactly why I invested in a bead blaster. Here are some before and afters of my under dash brackets. Definitely remove any plastic parts (switch) or parts that can be blasted off (spring). Mine wasn't locked up, so I blasted them, blew them off real well to remove any blast media hiding in tight spots, then rattle canned them with some rustoleum. My '65 is more of a hot rod build than a restoration, so if anyone was to ever get under my dash and complain about the paint/finish/sheen or whatever, they'll just get a big rasberry from me...


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## jmd55 (Oct 30, 2021)

jmd55 said:


> hi you can try to soak it in muriatic acid get it at Lowes let it sit maybe overnight rinse in baking soda blow dry with air or hair dryer if no compressor if it free spray it with duplacolor cast blast did my seat tracks in my 66 like this and they look new and work new spray them with wd or crc after paint good luck


just pickup a cheap low plastic tote when you done and dry use Dupli color cast blast spray paint and it should look great


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## GTO Yeah (Dec 6, 2021)

Sick467 said:


> Just some tips for those who want to try using the muriatic acid...
> 
> *SAFETY FIRST*
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tips! This will definitely come in handy once we get started on some of the body work. I finally finished the parts I was working on. I ended up finishing them off in the blast cabinet and powder coating them. The parking brake assembly wasn't working out, so that'll be a project for another year.


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