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Photos by Bryan Irons
1. The E-Stopp’s component list is quite small; Actuator, control box, button, cables, and wire connectors are all included. The cable shipped with the unit is 21” long, and can be shortened to fit your application.
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Photos by Bryan Irons
2. The e-brake pedal in the YJ was starting show its age and hampering rollcage upgrades we’d like to get to in the future.
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Photos by Bryan Irons
3. To run a proper ‘A’ pillar down bar would mean loosing the use of the old braking system. Her in mock up stage, you can see the release and pedal are inaccessible with the old manual system.
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Photos by Bryan Irons
4. Mounting the actuator in the cab would have been our best course of action, but our unit was one of the first developed and the cable was too short to allow it. No problem, we had a perfect location right on top of the frame.
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Photos by Bryan Irons
5. Our rig still had the factory cable equalizer and it was in great shape. If yours is missing or too beat up to use, E-Stopp makes new units that can be ordered with your unit.
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Photos by Bryan Irons
6. The actuator mount just needs to secure the device, it does not have to withstand any of the force the E-Stopp makes. Even though the unit is designed to take water spray and outdoor elements, we still sealed up the openings with a little silicone.
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Photos by Bryan Irons
7. Having to hold back 600lbs. of the force is nothing to take lightly. We fully welded and gusseted our frame mounted cable holder.
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Photos by Bryan Irons
8. To keep from ripping of the frame, we cleaned the steel and laid down 2 beads and 2 rosette welds to keep the cable mount secured to the frame for good.
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Photos by Bryan Irons
9. With our welding done, and the paint dry (ish), time to mount the E-Stopp for the final time.
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Photos by Bryan Irons
10. Attach and tighten the cable. You may need to adjust it a few times. The actuator has 3” of travel; we only needed 1 ½ for our old drums to lock up.
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Photos by Bryan Irons
11. When running your cables through sheet metal, use a grommet to protect the cable and route your cable in a safe location to avoid damage.
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Photos by Bryan Irons
12. Electrical connections are easily made as the unit comes with a complete set of instructions and color diagrams. A few pieces of double sided tape make mounting it to the inside of the firewall easy. For our application, a keyed 12V source and a ground is all we required. The button stays illuminated when the e-brake is on, flashes and beeps when in motion, and stays off when the brakes are loose. An output for a remote light is included, but would require rewiring our dash, so we left it out for now.
Story & Photos by Bryan Irons
Some products transcend the genres they were born in. Modern supercharger design can be traced back to mine shaft ventilation pumps. Beadlock wheels’ existence started in the drag racing scene. The E-Stopp push button emergency brake started life in the hot rod scene as a way to hide an unsightly foot or hand brake. This is where we were first introduced to E-Stopp, but using it to hide the unsightly equipment wasn’t our intention.
The days were numbered for the old foot actuated emergency brake in our YJ tub. Plans were in effect to beef up the forward portion of the rollcage making the e-brake inaccessible. Relocating it to the center console was a logistics nightmare, with 5 other shifters already trying to occupy the same real-estate. Swapping all this out for a small actuator and pushbutton just made sense.
A few alterations were in order to locate the 15” long actuator body in a safe location under the rig. Although unassuming, the little aluminum tube is designed to put 600 lbs. of force on your e-brake system. The included cable is easily retrofitted to a preexisting setup, or if you are starting from scratch, the mounting location options are seemingly endless.
The small control box and included pushbutton are best mounted inside the cab of the vehicle to avoid moisture and heat. We placed the button out of sight to act as an anti-theft device. If you don’t know how to release the e-brake, the vehicle isn’t going to go far! This is especially helpful for topless wheelers.
So, we killed a few birds with one stone. Not only an anti theft device, but an e-brake and parking braking at the push of a button. Plus we gained the room needed to install our rollcage upgrades. We timed the E-Stopp and after a few adjustments were impressed with the 6 seconds it takes to go from “off”, to full power. Every time we start our rig, the E-Stopp beeps and the light illuminates to let us know if it is activated.
If you have any questions about the E-Stopp, feel free to drop them a line - (562)602-2842.