For some unknown reason, the spring that holds open the little parking brake lever on my 1999 Sportsman 335 was missing, resulting in the lever engaging about every other time I use the brakes. Very annoying. I looked everywhere online for that stupid little torsion spring with no luck. You can order one from a spring company, but need to know exact dimensions, which I don’t have, because it’s missing. Minimum cost I found on eBay for a used handle that has an intact parking brake lever was around $30.
Walking around Handyman hardware, I tried to think of what cheap part might have a torsion spring like that and happened upon hollow wall toggle bolts. Those are the fasteners that you drill a hole in the wall and push them through, and they have little wings that spread out once inside (link to picture below). They sell just the wings, each of which contains a small torsion spring, and they’re cheap. I just got a couple of sizes, tore them apart to get the spring, and found one that fits perfectly. Works great for $1.31 in parts for all of the ones I bought.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....pN%2B4qSpL.jpg
Walking around Handyman hardware, I tried to think of what cheap part might have a torsion spring like that and happened upon hollow wall toggle bolts. Those are the fasteners that you drill a hole in the wall and push them through, and they have little wings that spread out once inside (link to picture below). They sell just the wings, each of which contains a small torsion spring, and they’re cheap. I just got a couple of sizes, tore them apart to get the spring, and found one that fits perfectly. Works great for $1.31 in parts for all of the ones I bought.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....pN%2B4qSpL.jpg
