2nd Gen hand brake conversion

I am curious to see how 2nd gen owners feel about the factory foot pedal parking brake and if you'd be interested in having an option to convert to a hand brake instead. I'm guessing most wouldn't see the need for something like this. I like it just out of preference but also having a RWD with a hand brake to lock up the rear is more fun and gives you better control. Another option with the hand brakes would be to run two separate levers. One to each rear wheel to control one side at a time. The same concept as cutting brakes, for those familiar with those. This would allow you to lock up either side to help pivot around obstacles.

It was refreshing to see Toyota go with the hand brake on the 3rd Gens which left me wondering how to make it work on the 2nd Gens. Curious to know if others would be interested if there was an option to convert.

 

I always wondered why the hell Toyota went with a footbrake for the e-brake and I think it is ludicrous. I'd be down to see what you can come up with.

 

About 8yrs ago I drilled a hole in the side of my foot brake ratcheting mechanism so if I wanted I could run a zip tie through to hold the ratchet open so it wouldn’t stay locked down. If you’re looking to use it for drifting and sliding around this is the easiest way of accomplishing it. While sliding under braking is fun, a supercharger and rear locker is far more controlled.

 

Some Gen 2 trucks have a handbrake. What’s the dividing line — 4WD foot / 2WD hand?

 

I’ve owned 2 and 4wd autos, both with foot brake. My guess is manuals have a hand brake.

 

Even for nothing else, cuz it's cool and makes for sweet slides. Something they should have done from the beginning.

 

That could indeed be it.

 

This

 

That's a good idea. I'm not much of the go fast slide type but more of the low gear, slow crawling type.

 

5 speed MT had this handbrake.

 

I guess I should have been more specific, but the hand lever between the seats like 3rd Gens. I've seen those pull type hand brakes.

I have yet to see any. Do you know if they have the hand brakes like new tacos?

That is on a 3rd Gen. I'm curious, if that was available, would anyone be interested in doing the swap?

 

Count me in!
I HATE the stoopid foot ebrake.

I actually just the other day noticed in a pic of a manual the one under the steering wheel....beside the seat would be even better.

I miss powersliding

 

The Gen 2 trucks with handbrake have the pull-out lever under the ignition switch. The funky little cubby on footbrake trucks is where the Gen 2 handbrake lives. It’s like previous generations of Toyota trucks have had before it, including Gen 1 Tacomas.

It’s not a pull-up handbrake like the Gen 3 trucks and so many other vehicles.

(But it’s probably a lot easier to imagine a conversion to the pull-lever kind of handbrake!)

 

Manuals have hand brakes in the 05-15. Automatics have the foot pedal.
Turd gens were relocated to the center for both AT and MT.

 

The cable for the e-brake on all 2nd gens get routed to under the center console so I’m sure someone could fab up a mount and lever to relocate it from the pedal to the center console area pretty easily.

 

Does it really matter? As long as it works...lol

 

My 2012 Base Model V6 4wd 6 speed manual trans has this brake lever.

 

I can confirm in my MT it is a hand brake, but the shitty in the dash. I would prefer a lever to pull beside the console personally. But there isn't any room and the seats are uncomfortable enough as it is.

 

I’m sure most would have this train of thought and wouldn’t want to modify their trucks. It all depends on what you do with your truck. Some would see a benefit, some won't. I'd imagine the go fast dirt slidey guys could use it and also the slower technical crawling could benefit from dual lever cutting brakes.

I'll post what I've come up with so far. Only thing is, there is some cutting involved. At this point, that's not a concern of mine since the truck has been hacked into so much. This would be one more thing to help gain control in certain situations.

 

Looks a bit technical for my liking lol goodluck