Parking brake winter

A friend's family did that. I remember the look on my friends face as he drove past me with no brakes and the e brake line was frozen from lack of use. Thankfully he ended up missing any cross traffic in the intersection ahead and landed softly in heavy brush. That was after many PA winters.

I never had an issue in 30yrs with brake cables other than uneven bite on our PoS Dodge. We use them every time.

I suppose everyone's experience is different?

 

Agree with you, everyone's experience is different!

 

I park with my hand brake in all my vehicles. I've never had an issue.

 

About your last question, parking and e brakes are the exact same thing. 99% of the time, it is a cable actuated brake inside of a rear drum. Even cars / trucks with rear disks have a small drum brake in the rear under the hat of the rotor.

Some cars, like Teslas, will have a second hydraulic caliper on the rear wheels for a parking / e brake.

If you are hung up on that past experience on your Honda, be sure to exercise the brake from time to time.

 

Good to know!

 

No problem!

Also, here's a funny. On the CanAm Spyders, the overdone computer-hell of the thing will not let you get off of it unless the parking brake is set. It is an electronic switch like a lot of newer cars. Massive PITA along with the rest of the start up / shut down procedure.

 

I hear ya, it seems like many cars now a days you need to apply the parking brake to do something. I remember my Honda S2000 you needed to apply the parking brake for the convertible top to come down as well.

 

When I park I put it in neutral, put the parking break on, release the break pedal, then put it in park. I heard this is best practice to keep any stress off the transmission/shifter. I can’t speak for any freezing weather though.

 

No way! Our saab could be moving up to 7mph, which was just a fuzz faster than idle in 1st gear. I can't tell you how many times I wish that was a more reasonable 15mph. I was envious of later Porsches that could be going up to 30mph. Or, just a freaking Miata that you could unpin and drop it at most any speed.

 

That took years to convince my wife to do. Of course any discussion of parking pawls and binding were useless. But, she did often comment how much easier it is to get out of park when done right.

 

My car is pretty cool as the rear calipers are mechanical actuated with the handbrake, no stupid drum or extra hydraulic handbrake.

 

Nice. I never liked the double brake setup and the unnecessary unsprung weight.

 

I use mine and leave it in neutral every time. With my memory I will def lurch forward after starting and letting out the clutch immediately after starting if I leave it in 1st. So if my brakes freeze than oh well, at least I didn't lurch into my house lol

 

I have had mine for two years in Minnesota. No problems. Until this month. I went up to Grand Marais last weekend and without fail every time I had the parking brake set it would be stuck afterwords. Resulting in me climbing under with a dead blow hammer, pulling on the cable and beating on the drum every time. "why keep using the parking brake?" is usually the response I see in these threads. I have always used a parking brake. I have never thought it was a great idea to rely on your gears to hold the truck in place. I have tried it once in a while in my driveway which has a slight hill to it. Come out to find my truck about 2 or 3 feet further down the hill than I parked it. E brake it is.

 

Mine got stuck for the first time two weeks ago in 7 degree temps while I was skiing at Berthoud Pass in CO. Took me the better of 45 minutes to get it loose and all it came down to was wiggling the little rubber nipple that inserts into the drum. Once i did that it broke loose, this was after i tried banging, cursing and heating the line with a MSR Pocket Rocket...

I disassembled the line, cleaned and lubed it and so far, so good

 

What do you expect washing it when it’s below freezing out?

 

why would it be any different then driving on a slushy road.....

 

Probably because a few people hard them roll away. Being 3 wheels it’s gonna keep rolling until it stops or hits something, not much of a chance tipping over like a normal bike.

 

It is a regulatory requirement for 3wheels from the start.

My Ural with rear drums had one that was pretty effective and simple. The next model year went to disks in the rear with a setup like @shakerhood has on his Stang. It was pretty decent except for bad proportioning and some fried rotors due to the stop setting (making sure the bleed port was not blocked). It also made a tire swap about three times as long.

The CanAms are setup to be a first bike, so there are a TON of weird gizmos that greatly detract from the experience. ABS / TCS with a single, wicked conservative, and always-on setting, that odd e brake, the prelaunch sequence, etc. The party piece was the stopping distance. Otherwise, the sidecar was infinitely more fun for me in every respect.

 

Not saying water can’t get in the drums when your driving but you have a lot better chance if you’re sitting there spraying them down, especially using a pressure washer. If you wash the truck and it’s a short trip back home, low speeds and not a lot of time to heat the brakes up won’t evaporate all the moisture. Not to mention any salt that may be mixed in with the slush to help stop it from freezing