E-brake or universal handle brake?

[Drummerdad]

I am at a point I am ordering the last few items I can think of and getting everything here, in an attempt to get Isaacs truck on the road buy the end of summer. It might not be totally road worthy, but if it drives under its own power around the neighborhood, Ill count it as a success. I still have a lot of work to do, but Im getting close.

One issue I have is the parking brake. I have the two e-brake cables for the original rearend, and I installed them when I did the brakes. The cable are ran to the bracket that is right behind the driver. I also have a handle for the brake that came from the parts truck, but all 3 mounting holes were rusted through. The handle basically fell out in my hand. The forward cable is from the parts truck, which is a long bed, Isaacs truck is a short bed. So Im faced with the problem of installing a parking brake. Here are my options, tell me what you think, or what you did on your truck. I have to have the park brake, because its a 4 speed.

1) E-brake. At almost $600 its the most expensive. I like the idea, but Im worried the force will hurt the rear cables or the parts inside the drums. I read somewhere that it applies about 700 lbs of force. But, if I hide the button, it acts as another anti-theft.
2) Aftermarket universal e-brake. About $350-400. The handles look nice, and its universal, so I can mount it many ways, and in several locations. Plus I can regulate the force on the brakes and cables and not kill any hard to find parts, while still applying enough force to keep the truck in place.
3) Fix the original. It would be more work, I would have to make repair panels, with nuts welded in place. I would also have to buy another front cable for a short bed truck. My biggest issue with this is, if I get to install the 5.7 hemi later, it might not fit. Plus I made no plans to run the cable, so it might interfere with something I have already installed.

[Drummerdad]

I think I want to keep the original but I need the front cable. The handle still works, but the mounts are rusted. I can repair those easily enough, but I still need a front cable. Is there a source for this? How long is the front cable on a short bed? The rear cable are there, and they work. I rebuilt the rear brakes also. If I can get a front cable, I can make this work.

[712edf]

Is there a way to shorten the cable from the longbed parts truck?

FWIW Dodge continued to use that hand brake on medium duty trucks through the end of production in 1977.

Bucky