Put it in park and set the e-brake reminder

[jbetzelb]

Watched a tow truck, a diver, water patrol and a couple local cops pull a fully submerged truck out of the lake last Saturday. It was windy. Story was the person tied off his boat at the ramp, got his truck, and was backing down the ramp when he saw the boat break loose. Jumped out of the truck and started swimming for the boat. Forgot to throw the truck in park or set the e-brake. Felt for the guy. 5 seconds of not thinking cost him his truck and trailer.

 

[wrvond]

Five seconds to properly secure his mooring lines would have been even better.

 

[Silvertip]

Actually, the best sequence for this BACKING IN is to 1) Set the e-brake while you 2) continue to hold the regular brake while you 3) place the transmission in PARK and then you 4) release the regular brake. Reverse the process when PULLING UP the ramp. What difference does it make you ask? Placing the tranny in park without using the e-brake or placing it in park and then letting off the normal brake before setting the e-brake causes the vehicle to roll HEAVILY against the parking pawl in the tranny. The extra load of the boat and trailer plus being on an incline may result in the inability to get the tranny out of PARK due to the excess pressure. Next time at the ramp, "listen" to the guy next to you when he pulls out. That awful snap you hear as the tranny comes out of park is the harshness I'm talking about. Each time that happens the pawl and the corresponding notches in the park gear get a bit of excess wear. The point will come when the vehicle will not stay in park on even a slight incline. As an absolute worst case scenario, I've seen where the parking pawl anchor (pivot point) in the transmission case ripped from the case. You now have a tranny that can be used as an anchor. This is a simple process to start if you don't already use it. Because you've not had an issue doesn't mean you won't. And the good thing it doesn't cost anything to do it. Those of you old enough to drive in the early 60's probably remember an issue Ford had with the tranny slipping out of park. That issue went on for years. My wife to this day will not walk in front of or behind an idling car. I guess I trained her well.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Hard to imagine leaving a vehicle without putting it in Park first, even if he did see his boat floating away. Pretty expensive brain spasm...

 

[oldjeep]

Hard to imagine leaving a vehicle without putting it in Park first, even if he did see his boat floating away. Pretty expensive brain spasm...

I left mine in drive once

 

[Blind Date]

Actually, the best sequence for this BACKING IN is to 1) Set the e-brake while you 2) continue to hold the regular brake while you 3) place the transmission in PARK and then you 4) release the regular brake.

That's how I do it. You also don't get that nasty noise when you pull it back out of Park. My emergency brake is out of adjustment & doesn't hold as well as it could so I've also been throwing a wood 4X4 behind my rear wheel.

 

[hemi rt]

That's how I do it. You also don't get that nasty noise when you pull it back out of Park. My emergency brake is out of adjustment & doesn't hold as well as it could so I've also been throwing a wood 4X4 behind my rear wheel.

Saw one person use the 4X4 behind the back wheel, watched the block and truck slide into the water right off the end off the ramp, he didn't use park or his e-brake, cost him just under $1000.00 to get it out plus what ever the shop charged to get it running, dried out and fluids changed. A more than costly mistake, I heard later that this wasn't his first time. Some people just don't learn.

 

[gm280]

They do make chocks for the rear wheels and I've seen some use them with a line attached to the vehicle. So when you drive forward the wheel chocks pull along too without interfering with the trailer. Not a bad idea. If people only knew how very little a parking paw is in their transmissions, it would scare the doo doo out of them. I've built transmissions before and a parking paw is a little piece of steel not much larger then the tip of your little finger and a heck of a lot thinner. It slides into a similar notched area and that is what hold all the weight. :faint2:

 

[boatman37]

parking brakes aren't very effective when rolling backwards so be careful of that too. i hold my brake then put it in park and slowly let off the brake pedal to keep it from 'slamming' against the pawl.

years ago my friend had a 1977-ish 3/4 ton 4x4 chevy. he was buying a 454 off a guy that had the motor in the back of his truck. we had the cherry picker in the back of brians truck so just backed up tailgate to tailgate and hooked the cherry picker to the engine to lift and slide it into his truck. figured a few times of readjusting the cherry picker and we would be ready to go. i was standing in the back of the truck and everyone else was on the ground doing whatever. brians truck started to roll down the hill with me in the back. the engine fell off the tailgate and took the cherry picker with it (the tailgate got bent pretty bad from the 454 slamming onto it but he straightened it by running it over again...lol). i was about ready to jump out when one of the sellers jupmed in and hit the brakes. i slammed forward into the back window but luckily it held. it was an automatic and you could hear the tick-tick-tick of the pawl clicking by. the only harm done was the tailgate and a big scrape and bruise on my shin from the cherry picker. the engine was fine too but lesson learned there.

i think about that every time i back down the ramp. i either have somebody stay in the truck holding the brakes or i put it in 4wd and in park and put a block behind the rear wheel

 

[Fed]

Actually, the best sequence for this BACKING IN is to 1) Set the e-brake while you 2) continue to hold the regular brake while you 3) place the transmission in PARK and then you 4) release the regular brake.

I always release the regular brake before I put it in Park.

 

[jkust]

Had a friend literally drive his brand new Suburban off the lot, go home to get his boat and promptly did exactly what is described in this post. The truck had less than 20 miles on it and was a total loss.

 

[jbetzelb]

I do wonder what it cost. They were at it for an hour. The police wrote a ticket for something and it was interesting because I heard the water patrol tell the cop he didn't see any water contamination so he didn't need to ticket for that. I heard the diver say that was number 4 for the year.

 

[JASinIL2006]

parking brakes aren't very effective when rolling backwards so be careful of that too. i hold my brake then put it in park and slowly let off the brake pedal to keep it from 'slamming' against the pawl

I've never heard about parking brakes being less effective when going backwards. Why is that?

 

[boatman37]

try it sometime. put your e-brake on and try to back up. not sure of the science behind it but as long as i have been messing with cars it has been true

here are the first 2 google results:

http://www.mercurycougar.net/forums/showthread.php?45696-Parking-brake-not-working-rolling-backward

http://www.clubgp.com/newforum/tm.a...page=1&key=&language=&tmode=&smode=&s=#733311

 

[guy48065]

...If people only knew how very little a parking paw is in their transmissions, it would scare the doo doo out of them. I've built transmissions before and a parking paw is a little piece of steel not much larger then the tip of your little finger and a heck of a lot thinner. It slides into a similar notched area and that is what hold all the weight. :faint2:

The driveline gearing, tire diameter, etc makes that thin rod all that's needed. I once had a V8 "seize" and no amount of effort on breaker bars & cheater pipes on the crank bolt could get it to budge. Ended up being a dime-thin flywheel weight had flew off & got wedged between the starter & flywheel.

 

[gm280]

The driveline gearing, tire diameter, etc makes that thin rod all that's needed. I once had a V8 "seize" and no amount of effort on breaker bars & cheater pipes on the crank bolt could get it to budge. Ended up being a dime-thin flywheel weight had flew off & got wedged between the starter & flywheel.

guy48065, I do realize that and I also changed my share of stripped gears that were built to take way more force that a mere thin little parking paw. I was only stating that parking paws literally hold an entire vehicle weight and can't fail. But it is a mere thin piece of metal not much bigger then a 1/4" in most cases. Most people would not risk their lives on such a thin piece of metal in any other way. But being how most don't really know what a transmission in park is really all about, we don't give it much thought. JMHO

 

[Jeepster04]

I always release the regular brake before I put it in Park.

This. I always make sure the ebrake takes all the force it can THEN I put it in park. Normally my transmission isnt taking any load. Slides right into drive with not crazy noises.

I adjust my parking brakes as regular maintenance though, so they hold the weight with no issues.

While I know its not technically correct, another pet peeve of mine is using R when back down the ramp. I always just use N, dont need the engine fighting against me trying to stop when rolling down the steep ramp. Suppose some could argue you should use R so people know youre backing up...