One thing I can't stand is loose/sloppy mechanisms, they are just asking for trouble (well that's my opinion and I'm sticking by it). I spent quite a while thinking about the chassis mounted part of the handbrake mechanism and wanted it to be both very securely fitted and positive in operation. I started by getting all the parts laid out to see what's what and get the assembly sorted in my mind. Needed to have a look through several other blogs to make sure I had the bits all the right way up. Don't forget to check all holes for powder coat and remove as necessary. I found an 8mm reamer worked great.
When satisfied I loosely assembled it all to see what I needed to do to meet my requirements. For the main pivot I have opted to cut down a longer screw into a stud and rigidly mount it to the bracket on the chassis using a standard nut and a nyloc on the bottom. They were both then tightened very tightly and thread locked as well. This gave a very sturdy pivot to start with.
On the pivot arm I used a similar process in cutting down a longer screw to make a stud and tightly secure again with a couple of nuts and thread-lock. This would become the pivot for the bar that the two cables attach.
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I attached the two cables to the small arm but used shorter clevis pins as those provided were longer than I wanted. With the aid of a washer under the split pin all the slack was removed although all is still able to rotate freely without binding up anywhere throughout its travel. I used copper slip on the clevis pins to help keep them free as well.
All assembled and I am really pleased with its operation. If I ever do this again I will probably turn up a couple of pillars rather than have threads running in side holes. That would last much better although in reality this will not get used that much anyway.
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