Parking Brake Use

When parking in your driveway or at a slight incline, do you use your parking brake or leave it off with the truck in Park or gear?
A coworker said not using it puts strain on your transmission.
Just curious as to what everyone's opinion on this is.
Thanks!

 

I use it and put my truck in either 1st or reverse when I park.

 

This sounds like a question for automatics.

As far as manuals go..
I don't ever use my e-brake for anything other than engaging the gears on an incline to avoid rolling backwards. When I park, the truck is left in gear. If you get in the habit of putting the e-brake on every time you park then you will cause disc warping from the trapped heat, wearing your e-brakes out much faster. I don't think your question applies to e-brake/handbrakes though. As far as "park" in an automatic I have no clue what the story is there.

 

it does put strain on the transmission and mounts, its there for a reason , the internals of the transmission were not meant to hold the weight of a truck at an angle.

Plus when I was a kid I have seen cars break loose in park with no Emergency brake on and roll down a hill.

 

I agree with your coworker.

 

interesting as I have always used my E brake with a manual transmission with only positive results, my old 89 would pop out of gear if left on a slight incline without the E brake on.

I have never had warping or rear drum issues.

 

I'm sure there are a lot of variables to consider here. How hot the ambient air temperature is, brake usage in your driving environment which would affect how hot your rotors are when you park. If your routine doesn't fuck your vehicle up it sounds A-OK to me!

I tend to try to avoid using things that aren't necessary. That being said, on a steep incline/decline the piece of mind has a value all its own.

 

Funny, I thought the same thing when i read your post

To each their own.

 

OP obviously do not listen to WheelInTheSky as he is clearly to lazy to properly use his truck and that suits him well.

Your truck and every single Tacoma has a parking brake for its intended use and should be used.

A properly working parking brake is part of some state inspection laws as well, plus on a steep incline the transmission can not hold the weight of the vehicle safely.

Also using it on a regular basis keeps your rear drums working as intended.

 

I set my parking brake every time I park (auto). Stop, hold brake, shift into Park, set brake, turn off truck. I have heard lack of use on the P brake can be detrimental to the P brake cable over time.

 

A. Complete. Steaming. Pile.

It's normally hard to get so much misinformation in such a short space.

 

lol, you're an ass.

Considering my e-brake sees use every time that I drive I'm not too worried about detriment to my brake cable. When my truck is parked it is always in gear, and on a steep incline the brake is used as well. All starts-from-stop get the e-brake treatment to allow the gears to engage before there is any backwards roll

If I were a lazy driver I'd have an auto

 

So you use your E brake for drifting? Video or it didnt happen!!!

 

The proper way, manual or automatic is as follows.

Stopped with wt of vehicle held by foot brake.

If on a significant grade, steering should be turned such that a failure of both brake and transmission would roll into the side of road/curb, not out into roadway.

Apply ebrake on, still holding foot brake.

Release foot brake, allowing vehicle weight to rest on the ebrake

Place auto in park. Place manual in 1st if facing up a significant grade, reverse if facing down a significant grade.

Above procedure keeps ebrake working freely, provides a bit of adjustment for our drums, and prevents unnessecary load on transmission components. Which are much pricier than ebrake components.

Drivers Ed 101

 

Not really. Warped discs is important to avoid. With all your lugs torqued evenly the heat on rotors is even so no warping, but if the become somewhat uneven the distribution of applied pressure and also heat transfer is uneven. Rapid cooling from puddles and such can also cause warp. Drum brakes are different from disc in that they go out of round when they warp, so for our Taco rear brakes what I said doesn't really apply. I was sort of picturing others cars that I regularly drive that don't have rear drums..

 

Anytime I'm on an incline, my parking brake is applied when parked. My truck is an automatic.

 

I avoided using the parking brake years ago because with some older vehicles there was a possibility of the cable freezing in snowy weather. That became habit. When I park on a slope I put it into gear and turn the wheel so the vehicle will roll off the roadway or into the curb, as appropriate, if it starts to move. I have never experienced any engine mount or transmission problems as a result.

 

The only thing accurate in this post, if one can read between the lines enough, is that proper torqueing of the lug nuts is important. And that really only causes a brake issue if the vehicle has floating rotors.

Everything else adds to the pile, along with some fresh steam.

Speaking of steam, if water caused warp, why wouldn't every disc on the road would warp the first rain or snow they ran in?

You might want to do a little reading here. http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers/-warped-brake-disc-and-other-myths

 

No real dog in this fight, but...

Would you not need to put the vehicle in neutral before releasing the foot brake in order for the weight to "rest on the ebrake"? Then put the vehicle in park (or 1st/reverse for manual) after the weight is resting on the ebrake?

If "ebrake" stands for "emergency" brake would this not be for emergencies not "parking" or is it a "parking" brake (pbrake)?

Isn't there an issue with "parking"/"emergency" bakes freezing up if used in cold weather?

 

It isn't because it's water, it's because it is substantially colder than the rotors are when you drive with hot rotors through a cold puddle.

Starting to wish I hadn't mentioned warp as it's a real bag of crap to discuss/argue over. Warp is a slang term anyway, lateral runout and disc thickness are the culprits. Where heat comes into play is with when you have variance in the friction pattern on your brakes. It really is so minimal and brakes are so inexpensive and take so long to wear it isn't worth worrying/arguing about. I happen to be anal and knowing the slightest bit of science makes me go to the extreme in some situations.

I really don't want to argue about any of this, was only replying to OP about my routine when it comes to parking and braking on flats and inclines..