This makes me just a little curious.

Is the handbrake on a Piper (without toe brakes) mechanical or
hydraulic?

I presume you're meaning on aircraft like the TriPacer which has the
hand brake, but no toe brakes.

In the TriPacer, a cable goes from the hand brake, around a few pulleys,
and ultimately it ends up under the pilot's seat. Under the pilot's seat
(and I'm not joking) you will find a Piper Cub heel brake, with a hole
in the back of the heel brake, where the cable connects.

The heel brake is hydraulic and applies both wheel brakes
simultaneously. The diaphragm has a habit of splitting just when you
really need the brakes, leaving you with nothing!

--
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Yes, that was the question.

BTW, your description of the TriPacer hand brake is a great example of the
way existing inventory happens to find an additional use. It reminds me of
a conversation I witnessed a few years ago at a combination picnic and
hangar-invasion. One of the members was in the process of building a Pitts
Special from plans--and lamented the difficulty of fabricating the elevator
linkage adaptor (for want of better nomenclature) which attached to the
control stick. Another member took one glance and said "that ol' son of a
gun just cut the top off [of] a cow bell".

Peter