Steps to Engage/Dis-engage Parking Brake

How much do y'all trust your parking brake?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJWx3OeuqQb/

 

My lord. Put the truck in park and rest assured it's ok. If on a hill put the E brake/parking brake on AFTER feeling the transmission engage park. I would never apply the parking brake while in neutral. That's just odd to me.

 

The things people do to baby their vehicles is mind boggling.

 

Your daily venture outside the house must be full of wonder and amazement if pausing at N to apply parking brake on the way to P boggles the mind.

 

When’s the last time you heard of a 4Runner parking pawl failure?

 

Regardless of rate of 4runners.com's known reported failure, it's something that takes zero effort and only has upside.

I can't believe on an automotive forum there are so many people who find faults in ensuring it is the parking brake holding the vehicle.

 

Failures aren’t always a spectacular snap with a runaway car that crashes into a busy farmers market. They can be subtle failures that happen over years, and the problems might not even appear related to the parking pawl. And I’m pretty sure few would come to a forum to report that failure. This is about a habit that is good for safety, and preserves the vehicle for the long haul.

I’m curious, how do you launch your boat? If you rest it against the pawl and then apply the parking brake…does it not bang into gear when you put it in drive later?

 

People aren’t reporting failures because they aren’t happening in the first place.
I typically don’t release the parking brake until after I put the vehicle into gear. No banging.

 

Here is my method, please take into account that I’m an old fart. I pull up to a parking spot, I have my foot on the brake and come to a stop, I keep my foot on the brakes and put it in park, then before I take my foot off the brake I smash the emergency brake down firmly, not like some pussy foot. Then I let Cosmo out and I get one of these looks.

 

I was asking about how/when you apply the parking brake, not release it.

If you’re not getting any banging/hard shift out of park, that suggests you’re not actually resting the weight on the pawl, but on the parking brake. Are you actually applying the brake correctly without realizing it?

 

It looks to me at this point there is no convincing people to change their mind on this. Funny enough, I tried to explain the concept of resting on parking brake vs on the transmission to my wife to convince her to use the parking brake on her camry but she too used the classic argument of "I don't care, I just park it and it is still working" even though every time I move that car, I can feel the resistance on the gear selector to get it out of park. Luckily her parking location is not too steep so I just let it be, the 4 and 5 speeds toyota transmissions are very robust so this may not show up as an issue too often unless someone parks on steep surface all the time. What you gonna do. With the 6th gen transitioning to parking brake controlled by a computer, the pros and cons of how to set it will become as alien of a concept as if one should double clutch when downshifting on a manual transmission that has a synchro.

 

The way I apply the parking brake is by putting the vehicle in park and then mashing the parking brake pedal down. Like the rest of us sane people do.

 

Damn, I couldn’t get you to admit you apply it exactly like all of us OCD types.

 

What’s funny is that the OP @coffeeguywitha4rnr hasn’t been back since he posted this thread lol. I’m sure everyone’s comments have more than answered his questions

 

This is a MASTERFUL trolling post!

3 pages of conversation about a PARKING BRAKE!!

 

Beats the usual oil change interval controversy.

 

I always run a chain from my rear recovery point to the nearest tree or telephone pole, just to be safe.

In all seriousness though, probably the best reason to actually use the parking brake is to make sure it continuously functions. I have a bad habit of never using mine, so I'm pretty sure it does not function at all on my 4Runner. I'm afraid to actually try it, because I'm afraid it won't release.

I don't understand why manufacturers continue to use this drum in hat parking brake method. When I was a kid I had a second gen Trans Am that had rear disc brakes, it had a parking brake system that mechanically engaged the rear calipers. I think that could be a more secure system.

I never actually drove that car, I quickly realized it was too much of a POS to sink money into, so I can't tell you how good that system actually worked. I did think it was clever at the time.

 

Oh don’t you dare start this again!

 

I’m also surprised that disc-based parking/emergency brakes haven’t become more popular over the years. Maybe it’s just design “inertia” and manufacturers didn’t want to spend money on designing something new. Drums are a known quantity and have a huge mechanical advantage that allows them hold extremely well for little mechanical/manual effort. Yes, even in drum-in-disc designs (my 4runner is my first one to not be adjusted at the factory).

I would think that for mechanical disc-based emergency brakes to operate well, they would need some gearing to make sure somebody can apply sufficient pressure.

I guess they have caught on though, since that’s exactly what new cars have…besides them being electrically driven and automatically applied.

 

Does anyone know what the mechanical components are of the "new" parking brake setup on the 6th gen?

 

Manual and automatic transmission I have done the same since I could drive (tractors, fwd, rwd, AWD):
Foot brake, set parking brake, park/gear to park.
Foot brake, release parking brake, drive/gear to drive.