Parking Garages: I only had 1 inch of clearance!

Titanoholic · 12-31-2004, 10:59 PM

Well I went to see the Lion King the other night in Seattle. The parking garage I went into had a clearance of 6'4". When I drove underneath the clearance sign, I could see the sign was only inches from my moon roof. I was thinking about backing out and going to another garage, but there were already several cars behind me and it would have been impossible to turn around at that point. I proceeded on very slowly and felt as if I was going to hit the beams. My stock antenna was hitting every beam I went under which were spaced about every 15 feet. I was starting too sweat like crazy and the car behind me was getting frustrated with my slow pace and started to honk his horn. I could care less about him, I was really scared I was going to hit the beams if I went to fast and hit a dip causing the truck to bob up an inch or two. Finally after about 8 minutes of pure sweat, I found a parking spot on the fifth floor. When I got out I totally forgot that the back end of the Titan is a few inches higher then the front. I was parked underneath a beam that went parallel with the length of my truck and I quickly noticed the back of my canopy appeared to be touching the beam. My heart skipped a few beats and I quickly stood on my rear bumper to get a closer look and make sure there were no scratches on my canopy. Turns out I just barely cleared the beams. The clearance was so small; I could barely get the thickness of my hand between the canopy and beam. I think I went only 1mph when I left after finding out my clearance was even less then what I saw from my moon roof. So if you have a stock 4x4 Titan, I highly recommend you never try to clear anything less then 6'4". I know I will never go in a garage again unless it has 6'5" or more of clearance. 6'4" is really pushing your luck!

caltitan · 12-31-2004, 11:12 PM

LOL- I guess you could always lower your tire pressures to get a little more clearance. I've been in a few tight hospital parking garages in my 2WD. My biggest complaint is the width and length of the parking stalls in those things. Door dinks or someone backing into my truck are a big worry.

raskm · 12-31-2004, 11:19 PM

LOL.....thanks for the info anyway, but I am the type of dumb @ss that will forget and do it tomorrow.

Titanoholic · 12-31-2004, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caltitan

LOL- I guess you could always lower your tire pressures to get a little more clearance. I've been in a few tight hospital parking garages in my 2WD. My biggest complaint is the width and length of the parking stalls in those things. Door dinks or someone backing into my truck are a big worry.

This is very true. I had to fold in my tow mirrors when I got onto the ferry that goes over to Seattle. The ferries pack you on pretty tight and whenever a full size truck was driving past me on the ferry, their mirrors just BARELY missed mine. I could tell most poeple were not even thinking about avoiding my mirrors when they drove by, so I quickly rolled the window down and folded them in. Before I bought my truck, I was planning on buying the smaller mirrors and installing those when I was not towing my travel trailer. After my first day driving with the tow mirrors you couldn't pay me enough to down size them. With my canopy on, I virtually have no blind spots with these mirros, they are fantastic.

*Mike Up* · 12-31-2004, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titanoholic

Well I went to see the Lion King the other night in Seattle. The parking garage I went into had a clearance of 6'4". When I drove underneath the clearance sign, I could see the sign was only inches from my moon roof. I was thinking about backing out and going to another garage, but there were already several cars behind me and it would have been impossible to turn around at that point. I proceeded on very slowly and felt as if I was going to hit the beams. My stock antenna was hitting every beam I went under which were spaced about every 15 feet. I was starting too sweat like crazy and the car behind me was getting frustrated with my slow pace and started to honk his horn. I could care less about him, I was really scared I was going to hit the beams if I went to fast and hit a dip causing the truck to bob up an inch or two. Finally after about 8 minutes of pure sweat, I found a parking spot on the fifth floor. When I got out I totally forgot that the back end of the Titan is a few inches higher then the front. I was parked underneath a beam that went parallel with the length of my truck and I quickly noticed the back of my canopy appeared to be touching the beam. My heart skipped a few beats and I quickly stood on my rear bumper to get a closer look and make sure there were no scratches on my canopy. Turns out I just barely cleared the beams. The clearance was so small; I could barely get the thickness of my hand between the canopy and beam. I think I went only 1mph when I left after finding out my clearance was even less then what I saw from my moon roof. So if you have a stock 4x4 Titan, I highly recommend you never try to clear anything less then 6'4". I know I will never go in a garage again unless it has 6'5" or more of clearance. 6'4" is really pushing your luck!

I was in down town Chicago on Michigan Ave. and started to go into a 6'4" parking garage when the attendant told me I wouldn't fit. I was in my 2000 4X4 Nissan Xterra and my roof rack was about an inch below the sign. I had about 5 cars behind me, but I was pissed that an idiot would design a garage so low. I started backing up and they started honking. To bad for them, my vehicle was bigger. As I just about hit the guy behind me, he finally backed up pretty quickly. If I weren't so pissed, I may have had a bit more care not to hit him, but with his honking, it was on. Amazing, all the cars backed out and I found another garage that was 7' and that's were all the trucks were.

I really hate driving in down town, I actually saw 2 accidents on Michigan ave. A city bus hit an Isuzu Rodeo, lifting it off the ground and neither did the bus driver stop or the Rodeo driver. If it were me, I'd been pulling that bus driver out of the bus. The other accident was a Taxi and car where a side scrape happened. Once again, they just drove off, neither stopping. No wonder why Chicago car issurance rates are so high. Just a bunch of fools driving around.

Have a good one.

04Sedona · 01-01-2005, 03:22 AM

I park in a garage with 6'6" of clearance. There's "plenty" of room, but the first time I drove in I (1) took it slow and (2) after I parked got my tape measure out of the handy rear quarter tool box then measured the clearance under the beam. I don't remember the exact dimensions, but I had about 5" to spare, though it looked like less. Parking garages are a ***** in a Titan: low clearances and narrow spaces.

wrenrj1 · 01-01-2005, 07:43 AM

I checked the specs. on the Titan before I purchased mine to make sure it would fit in my parking garage. The titan specs. say 76.4 inches tall. My parking garage is 78 inches, however I think they fudge the height a bit on the low side for safety sake (the garage that is).

Letting the air out of the tires in a pinch is a good idea though...

Fauch · 01-02-2005, 08:32 AM

The same thing happened to me, parking at a hotel under ground parking I thought forsure I was going to get jammed in. I was driving very slowly hanging out the window making sure I had enough room. I had about 2 inches to spare.

rrumaner · 01-02-2005, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Up

I was in down town Chicago on Michigan Ave. and started to go into a 6'4" parking garage when the attendant told me I wouldn't fit. I was in my 2000 4X4 Nissan Xterra and my roof rack was about an inch below the sign. I had about 5 cars behind me, but I was pissed that an idiot would design a garage so low. I started backing up and they started honking. To bad for them, my vehicle was bigger. As I just about hit the guy behind me, he finally backed up pretty quickly. If I weren't so pissed, I may have had a bit more care not to hit him, but with his honking, it was on. Amazing, all the cars backed out and I found another garage that was 7' and that's were all the trucks were.

I really hate driving in down town, I actually saw 2 accidents on Michigan ave. A city bus hit an Isuzu Rodeo, lifting it off the ground and neither did the bus driver stop or the Rodeo driver. If it were me, I'd been pulling that bus driver out of the bus. The other accident was a Taxi and car where a side scrape happened. Once again, they just drove off, neither stopping. No wonder why Chicago car issurance rates are so high. Just a bunch of fools driving around.

Have a good one.

Don't try that at Ohare. I had to park there the other day to pick up some relatives. I pulled into garage number 3 and watched through the sunroof as I just barely cleared the beams. Going up the ramps was a heart stopping ride. Those beams are angled slightly to make the curve for the ramp. I had to stay as close to the wall as I could to just make it up.

The parking spaces are designed for small cars too. I had to squeeze out of the door just to get out. Fortunately when I got back, the car next to me was gone and I was able to get in and pull the truck out so everyone could get in.

For now on, it is remote parking no matter how long or short a trip is going to be.

Austin · 01-02-2005, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titanoholic

With my canopy on, I virtually have no blind spots with these mirros, they are fantastic.

Except for that big blind spot on the passenger side... you could hide a semi there...

Bayou Titan · 01-02-2005, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrenrj1

I checked the specs. on the Titan before I purchased mine to make sure it would fit in my parking garage. The titan specs. say 76.4 inches tall. My parking garage is 78 inches, however I think they fudge the height a bit on the low side for safety sake (the garage that is).

Letting the air out of the tires in a pinch is a good idea though...

I put a measuring tape to my Titan and it looks like it is in the vicinity of 73" in height. You would have to get a laser and project a line on the wall to get an exact measurement. I measured the antenna and the tip of it measured about 78" from the ground. It would be nice if the antenna was about 1" or an 1-1/2" taller than the Titan so that you could use that as a "be careful" gage.

azxr · 01-02-2005, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austin

Except for that big blind spot on the passenger side... you could hide a semi there...

Hmm, I don't seem to have a blind spot with my towing mirrors.

jasonwabc · 01-02-2005, 05:26 PM

at a local apartment complex, they see people peeling the roof off of f250's all the time....they even said they were "careful" where they installed speed bumps inside so people wouldn't hit the beams....very close for regular trucks.

daschtick · 01-02-2005, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austin

Except for that big blind spot on the passenger side... you could hide a semi there...

Adjust your lower convex mirror ALL the way out. You will have NO blind spot - I love my Big Tow Mirrors!

Bill_n · 01-02-2005, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bayou Titan

I put a measuring tape to my Titan and it looks like it is in the vicinity of 73" in height. You would have to get a laser and project a line on the wall to get an exact measurement. I measured the antenna and the tip of it measured about 78" from the ground. It would be nice if the antenna was about 1" or an 1-1/2" taller than the Titan so that you could use that as a "be careful" gage.

Well ....

Since I've got the sunroof wind deflector on top ... which must be about 4" tall ...

Based on your measurements ... if I see the antenna hit ... I'm backing out !!