OT: Poll: Parking brake

[wirelessenabled]

I always use the parking brake on my 5 speed. Why?

Many years ago I drove our manual trans. car into the garage and parked it, leaving it in gear but without the parking brake on. The next morning my wife got in to it, started it and then she decided she needed something from the house. Left the car running, went in the house came out to find the car had rolled down our driveway, across the street and crashed into the neighbors tree breaking out the back window and making a big dent.

Of course, according to my wife it was MY fault even though the car had managed to stay in the garage all night without any trouble. Use the parking brake every time now.

 

[CyGoR]

I never use the parking break, always stays in gear.. It isn't good to use the parking brake all the time, when used to long it can rust (errr... spelling??) easily.
How nice of your wife to blame you wirelessenabled

 

[Coquito]

Where's the "whenever I borrow my friends car, parking halfway up the sidewalk usually makes the parking brake unnecessary" option?

 

[ericlp]

I thought the parking break was only useful for doing cookies? Sigh....

 

[ericlp]

Originally posted by: RemyCanad

Originally posted by: Unforgiven
on a manual transmission is it best to leave the car in 1st gear or reverse? ive seen people do it both ways and i have always left mine in 1st gear...

I leave my car in reverse. The main reason I do this is because it does not always want to go from first to reverse with out letting the clutch out some so that the dog teeth can get spinning...

I guess it really depends on if you are is up a hill or down a hill. If you are facing up a hill then I would think you would want your car to be in reverse because that would put the torque of the cars weight on the correct turning direction of the engine... And of course it would the other way for going down a hill.

But I really don't have a clue. I leave it in 5th some times too. :S

1'st or reverse does not matter you will roll if your engine starts turning over it really depends on the rings and how good the compression is... Reverse gear is CHEAP straight cut gears ... Ever notice in reverse it makes a lot more noise then in 1st? Well, is because they don't have syncro's in reverse and they are really cheap gears. Anyway, if someone runs into the back of your car more then 10 mph it can bust your gears... So, I'd rather have reverse gear teeth broken then 1st gear... I use to know a few people that drove cars w/o reverse in high school days!

Ommm, the engine turns the same way in reverse as in any other gear LOL!!! What you think your engine runs backwards in reverse? The reverse gear has an idler. You can actually jump start your car in reverse! Just in case you were parked up hill and your batt was dead just put it in reverse and pop the clutch!

 

[TofBnT]

I drive both and use the brake only on strong inclines. With my work trucks, I tend to use it more often, because I don''t trust the maintenance as much.

 

[RemyCanad]

Originally posted by: ericlp


Ommm, the engine turns the same way in reverse as in any other gear LOL!!! What you think your engine runs backwards in reverse? The reverse gear has an idler. You can actually jump start your car in reverse! Just in case you were parked up hill and your batt was dead just put it in reverse and pop the clutch!

You must have not read what I said. If you car is in reverse, and it rolls forward, then it would try and make the engine spin the wrong way......

 

[Confused]

Originally posted by: RemyCanad

Originally posted by: ericlp


Ommm, the engine turns the same way in reverse as in any other gear LOL!!! What you think your engine runs backwards in reverse? The reverse gear has an idler. You can actually jump start your car in reverse! Just in case you were parked up hill and your batt was dead just put it in reverse and pop the clutch!

You must have not read what I said. If you car is in reverse, and it rolls forward, then it would try and make the engine spin the wrong way......

When the engine's not running it will spin both ways just as freely (or not, depending on how good the compression within the engine is)





Garry

 

[Robor]

Drive a 5-speed and *always* use the parking brake. Is there any reason to not use the brake? I mean, why stress your tranny when you don't have to?

 

[RaySun2Be]

I mean, why stress your tranny when you don't have to?

how much stress can there be on a tranny when parked 99.9% of the time on level ground?

The way I shift & drive hard, I guarantee that I put far more stress on the tranny while driving than it ever will have parked. :Q

 

[Wolfie]

Originally posted by: Wolfsraider
I don't use the parking brake on my own cars,but when I drive the comercial truck,I use it everytime
as I got tired of chasing it down.It's an automatic with no park,I also use chocks on it also as the parking brake isn't strong enough to hold it on an incline of any kind.
It is a delivery van (Diesel).
I would never have thought an 18000 lb vehicle would be so stupidly designed.

mike

That brake isn't ajusted correctly. I should know, I adjust them almost every day with a fleet of 130 school busses. They follow the same principle. Auto with no park. Most alison trannys are like this. Of course, on the large vehicals anyways.

The handle should turn on the end. If it doesn't, then the adjustments should be made under the truck. Under that kinda load, all parking brakes should hold the truck. If it doesn't, it could cause the truck to fail an inspection if they ever did one. If you work for a company that does the work on the trucks, make sure you bring it to their attn. Or YOU could get the fine. Just a heads up.

Wolfie

Oh, and I should also mention something else. If you are parked on a steap incline with an auto, the parking pin is not made to take the weight of the car. It holds it, but it's not good for it. I have actualy heard and seen cars that have broken the parking pin from parking on steap inclines. Usualy, it happens when they take it out of park. You really think 2000lbs or more is good for a parking pin the size of a pencil lead?

 

[eplebnista]

Auto: Never use parking brake

 

[compudog]

I set the parking brake on inclines whether auto or manual. I set the parking brake all the time with a manual.

 

[Ken g6]

Auto: Always use the parking brake. Even on a slight incline, it can be really hard to get my car out of park if I haven't set the parking brake.

And for those who say they drive around with the parking brake on, I say you didn't push (pull?) hard enough. If your vehicle doesn't rear up and not move when attempting to drive ("high idle") you need to apply more pressure when parking.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Manual: both in gear and parking brake, no matter the incline.

 

[RemyCanad]

Story time:

My younger brother and I had just finished up a game of tennis and were going to head home. He was probably 15 at the time, and he got in the car's driver seat and would not get up until I told him how to start the car in gear. (He didn't know you had to push the break in.....) Well once he did, he put it in drive and drove the stupid thing into the grass and hit a large industrial trash bin. (Didn't hurt the car!) Well I was pissed off so I made him get out of the car and I tried to move it. Well it would not move and I was not sure why. The back tires were still on the pavement and the front tires were just spinning. (It was a 98 taurus) I gave it one more try and a good ammount of gas. The car finally started to move and once the front tires hit the pavement smoke went everywhere. I started to drive the car and noticed something was still wrong. (Before I figured I just was not getting enough traction, it was in the mud and all.) I stopped the car (after about 10 feet) and look down to check all the gauges and he had stopped the car with the parking break! Once released everything was ok.

 

[onelin]

(automatic), I only use my parking break on a steep incline or when I'm next to one (i.e. my car is 3 feet from some big dropoff at one friend's house)

 

[Bleep]

You need to read the manual for your car. The rear auto brake adjusters are on the parking brake on my car.
Most are adjusted when backing up and adjust when you brake but some are not this way.

Bleep

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Manual, I leave it in gear, put e-brake only on a steep incline