Basic boat retrevial issue

FlyGuy65

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Jun 8, 2010
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Not sure if this is more of a general topics question, but here goes...

When its time to pull the boat out of the water, I back the trailer and vehicle down the ramp, put the vehicle in park, and set the parking brake. After the boat is secured, I hop back in the vehicle, firmly hold the brake, release the parking brake, and put vehicle in 'drive' (automatic transmission). Sometimes the shifter seems stiff, and sometimes it is accompanied by a noticeable 'clunk'. I'm guessing this is due to the vehicle being pulled back slightly during loading. Is this a common issue? Should I be setting the vehicle in neutral vs park when getting the boat? Do folks with manual transmissions leave them in N with the engine running, or shut it off and shift into first (parking brake set)?

It's a less than ideal minivan towing a 17.5 bowrider, which is at max rated tow capacity. Just not sure if it's entirely equipment related or a combo of that and bad procedure. Also looking at going to 21ft boat / Sequioa combo that's not right at tow capacity that I hope will do away with the issue.
Thanks!!!
 
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64osby

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If the parking brake is holding good, I would change the order.

Hop back in, apply brakes, put in gear, then release the parking brake.

If the parking brake is weak then I would look at wheel chocks that have a rope that goes around the mirrors. The chocks will follow you up the ramp.
 

alldodge

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It's normal, to help, back it down stop, set park brake and then put in park. Now if it still does it after loading or unloading your parking brake is not hold 100 percent. I would not put in neutral and get out of the truck wind up, hurt, or worst, or be on u-tube. Manual trans folks should set the brake, shut the motor off, and have transmission in first gear.

But this is just my opinion
 

smokeonthewater

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Slight adjustment... Set parking brake... Put trans in N, Take foot off regular brake, Put Trans in park.... Optional get out and place the chocks mentioned above if needed.
 

tpenfield

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Whatever you do . . . don't leave the vehicle in neutral. no redundancy and the price of failure is very high.

The hard shifting and 'clunk' that you are experiencing is a matter of the park gear doing most of the holding on the incline and therefore has a fair amount of force on it. Same thing will happen if you park on a hill.

For manual transmissions, usually you put the car in first gear and turn the engine off let out the clutch, all after setting the parking brake.
 

Fed

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Setting the park brake.
1) Car in neutral.
2) Apply foot brake hard. (There's a reason for this)
3) Apply park brake hard.
4) Foot off foot brake. (There's a reason for this)
5) Put car into park.
6) Turn off engine (optional) & get out.

Releasing the park brake.
1) Engine running.
2) Foot on foot brake hard.
3) Put car into drive.
4) Release park brake.
5) Drive away.
 

Frank Acampora

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Jan 19, 2007
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12,004
You are not setting the parking brake firmly enough. Thus it slips backward under load. That is why the transmission pawl clunks and it is difficult to move the shift lever.as you come out of park and into gear. Either press more firmly than you think necessary to set the brake or as mentioned above get a couple of chocks or rocks, or logs etc.

If your car does not have disc rear brakes it is a characteristic that the parking brake will be less efficient in reverse because only one pad is used and it is loaded in the wrong direction.. Disc brakes, on the other hand do use both pads but it is mechanical and way less efficient than the hydraulic cylinder--thus even disc emergency brakes are prone to slip unless you set them very firmly.
 

keith2k455

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Second everything previously stated. I would say you should chock the front and back of a wheel, though. If your parking brake won't hold downhill, it's not holding with the boat pushing it uphill while retrieving.

I set parking brake and chock mine because the pos parking brake on my gm discs just can't hold the truck and boat. I fight those things for a year and decided the only way to be comfortable was with wheel cocks.
 

H20Rat

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It's normal, to help, back it down stop, set park brake and then put in park. Now if it still does it after loading or unloading your parking brake is not hold 100 percent. I would not put in neutral and get out of the truck wind up, hurt, or worst, or be on u-tube. Manual trans folks should set the brake, shut the motor off, and have transmission in first gear.

Close... But putting it in first gear will potentially destroy an engine for you. If there is too much tension, you are essentially going to turn the engine backwards, never a good thing in a 4 stroke. When that happens, the now loaded side of the timing belt pushes against the tensioner and either destroys it by rapidly compressing it, or it slips a couple of teeth. (normally the tensioner pushes on the part of the belt that has essentially no tension, it is right before the crank following the normal direction of the belt.) If you have an engine with a timing chain, you might be slightly better off, they aren't quite as finicky.

Depending on the valve train, valves can potentially be damaged also.


In a manual, always put it in the same gear as what you normally have it in if you were driving. That way any tension is trying to force the engine in the normal direction. (ie, put it in reverse.)

In any case, for both my manual and auto trans vehicles, park (or reverse) is just a secondary safety measure. The parking brake is more than strong enough to hold the vehicle if it is adjusted correctly.
 
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thumpar

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The way I do it on my Yukon and previously a Suburban was to put it in park and then set the parking brake. Load the boat and then I would put it in drive with the brake pedal pressed as I put some pressure on the gas and release the parking and brake brake. Most parking brakes don't hold well in reverse.
 

smokeonthewater

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strange, I've seen several vehicles move on hills turning the engine backwards but never heard of any damage being done.... I have and will continue to use first gear as it is generally quite a bit lower than reverse and thus will hold a hill much better... that goes for my powerstroke truck with gear drive cam, my jeep with chain drive cam, and my bmw with belt drive cam.

All that said, if one was really worried a simple fix would be to install a line lock in the brake system.... step on brake pedal firmly, push button, release pedal and then button, and she ain't moving till after you step on the brakes firmly again.
 

smokeonthewater

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EDIT for above:
Not saying damage couldn't occur... Just saying I've never heard of it actually happening.... I think the risk of the vehicle rolling away if in reverse would be higher than any risk of engine damage but that's just my opinion.

Edit again.. The beemer is chain drive... Lol
 
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jkust

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I'll just mention if you have trailer brakes, and they operate like mine did, it is impossible to back the boat up without the tow vehicle being in reverse because the disk brakes on the trailer lock up so the trailer can't get out of control. Now that said, there was a short period when I towed my 4000+boat/trailer combo with a minivan as unsafe as that is and the minivan's tow package only had a 4 pin plug versus the 7 pin or whatever (I don't recall the pin counts) it is and so I'd have to get out and override the braking safety feature to back it. Someone correct me if that isn't 100% correct as to the safety feature but it's been a while since I towed with a minivan.
 

bassman284

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strange, I've seen several vehicles move on hills turning the engine backwards but never heard of any damage being done.... I have and will continue to use first gear as it is generally quite a bit lower than reverse and thus will hold a hill much better... that goes for my powerstroke truck with gear drive cam, my jeep with chain drive cam, and my bmw with belt drive cam.

All that said, if one was really worried a simple fix would be to install a line lock in the brake system.... step on brake pedal firmly, push button, release pedal and then button, and she ain't moving till after you step on the brakes firmly again.
Funny, I was just thinking about the line lock but couldn't remember what it was called. Back around 1960 my dad bought a 57 Chevy truck that had belonged to the phone company. It had what they called LeverLock. There was a lever on the dash and you flipped it up with the brakes on and that bad boy wasn't going anywhere until you flipped the lever down.
 
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