Parking on slight incline in 1st gear w/no e-brake

So my e-brake has been sticking lately in super cold temps.

My driveway is on a slight angle and I've been parking the truck in 1st gear with no e-brake.

Is this bad for the transmission at all? And is parking with the front of the truck at the top of the incline better/worse than at the bottom of the incline?

 

I've heard that resting on the tranny is bad and ive heard that it isn't. I always use my ebrake tho my dad doesnt and his car seems to be just fine. Your can always put blocks or a few sand bags behind your tires to take the weight off the tranny.

 

With the e-brake off?

I always leave it in gear with the e-brake on, but I feel weird about leaving it in gear without the e-brake on

 

In gear on a manual is fine with no e-brake. Watch out for little kid or dog knocking out of gear.

Turning wheel or getting wheel chucks or firewood not a bad idea so you don't have to go looking for your truck at the bottom of the hill.

 

Selkirk, NY eh?

I had a one week fling (about 25 years ago) with a girl from Selkirk. It was very Grease (Sandy and Danny) like, minus all the machismo lying, etc... Man she was really nice, cool, beautiful...

Wonder what, she's doing now...?

 

Small world sometimes. I've only been in this town (bethlehem) about 15 years.

 

Without the parking brake, you rely on engine compression for holding the truck in place. There is a parking pawl which locks the flex-plate on automatics, there is only the parking brake on manuals.
Trust your engine to hold you at your own risk. It won't do any damage, unless it starts rolling.

 

get that shit fixt.

E stands for "Emergency"... just sayin'

try greasing the cable and pivots with some low temp grease.

 

But that's a misnomer. It is technically called a parking brake. Using it as an emergency backup to the main brakes is possible, but tends to lock up very easily.

 

The only time I use my e-brake is when I get out of the truck when it's running. I always park it in gear only. When the truck is flat or facing uphill, I use first. When facing downhill, I use reverse. I have done this to both my Tacomas and never had a problem so far. If the hill is steep I've also been known to use low range as a parking brake.

 

This.

For a long time I thought that engine compression only would hold a vehicle on a steep incline. Only recently did I learn the truth. Thankfully I did not find out the hard way. But believe me, if the hill is steep enough the engine WILL turn over and the truck will roll.

If it does start rolling in gear and causes the engine to turn backwards, that may hurt something (besides the body work), not sure.

 

Well duh, if you are trying to use the E brake to stop faster, you deserve the Darwin award you will inevitably be awarded.

The "Emergency" is if your shifter pops out of gear, and the truck rolls away.

That constitutes an emergency.

Just get the E (or P) brake fixed so it works in the conditions you live in. People in Alaska, North Dakota, etc... all have working parking brakes.

 

very slight hills are ok, but if it's steep at all, don't trust that it won't roll away.

 

4lo for more security more frozen diffs to keep it from rolling

 

In very cold weather drum brakes can stick when left engaged for long periods. Since your emergency brake engages those only, you take the risk of having them stick when engaged overnight. There's no "fix" I know of for preventing that.

 

There's two methods. Rock the truck back and forth, or tap the drum with a hammer. Don't try the second one when parked on a hill

 

This is how I got my last truck for 400 bucks. Owner never fixed his parking brake. He parked on a slight incline, it rolled down the slight incline to the larger incline and rolled over. I'd suggest chocks if you want to prevent this from happening.

 

Mine works because I don't use it in winter...pretty common practice to not use the parking brake up here. Took me a little while to get used to it. And I've had manual trans vehicles 8 of the 10 years I've lived here.

What he said!

I would be concerned parking on an incline in winter ... even with the parking brake set the vehicle could slide in icy conditions. I've actually seen a C17 cargo aircraft push it's chocks and slide a few feet with only a slight incline; and the acft was shut down with nothing going on...just parked on the ramp. But it was icy when the acft blocked in. Cold and ice do funny things to pavement/rubber/wood/metal. EDIT: I should add high winds were involved in moving the acft, but I feel the point is still valid.

I guess what I'm saying is to consider some kind of chocks if parked on the incline is your regular parking spot. But even chocks won't guarantee it won't slide down hill. The wheels don't have to turn for it slide on ice. FWIW