How much braking does your parking brake do?

Hot_Titan · 11-21-2006, 03:46 PM

just for reference ive probably only used the parking brake a handful of times in the 15,000 that ive owned it...so today i noticed that the parking brake will barely stop the truck and that using a pillow as an anchor would probably work better, is this normal or how much braking force should i be expecting...
thx in advance
-david

jrubin · 11-21-2006, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hot_Titan

just for reference ive probably only used the parking brake a handful of times in the 15,000 that ive owned it...so today i noticed that the parking brake will barely stop the truck and that using a pillow as an anchor would probably work better, is this normal or how much braking force should i be expecting...
thx in advance
-david

on mine i mash it all the way to the floor, and it will hold on a steep driveway. just barley though it will creep sometimes. sounds like a trip to the dealer to adjust this one.

john

**konigfritz** · 11-21-2006, 04:05 PM

PArking brakes are meant for that only! They generally engage the rear brakes. The rears generally don't apply as much pressure as the fronts. IT's a mechanical not hydraulic system on most cars , therefore you don't get the force generated by the brake pedal.

priapus14 · 11-22-2006, 04:11 PM

I use mine everyday when I pull into my driveway. My driveway has a slight downgrade to it so I use the brake but here recently I have noticed that when I shift into reverse to pull out of the driveway it seems hard to get into reverse and there is a big "CLUNK" when shifting into reverse. This is probably due to the pressure being put on the transmission because the parking brake doesn't hold and the truck rolls back till the transmission catches and holds the truck. I have sit in the driveway in neutral and put the parking brake on and the truck will roll down my driveway... I am going to have the dealer fix that this weekend. I will let you know what they say is the problem.

rodney · 11-23-2006, 02:58 PM

i adjusted mine, and although it has a little slop, it holds my truck/trailer well. my old suburban was rock steady with the ebrake, when loading the racecar. the titan rocks back and forth a little when loading it.

skyhammer · 11-23-2006, 04:00 PM

The manual states that the parking brake should be full engaged with 3-4 clicks on the pedal, any more clicks and it needs adjusting. I have had mine adjusted several times. On the day I bought my truck it took 14 clicks before it bottomed out.

moulin6801 · 11-23-2006, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by priapus14

I use mine everyday when I pull into my driveway. My driveway has a slight downgrade to it so I use the brake but here recently I have noticed that when I shift into reverse to pull out of the driveway it seems hard to get into reverse and there is a big "CLUNK" when shifting into reverse. This is probably due to the pressure being put on the transmission because the parking brake doesn't hold and the truck rolls back till the transmission catches and holds the truck. I have sit in the driveway in neutral and put the parking brake on and the truck will roll down my driveway... I am going to have the dealer fix that this weekend. I will let you know what they say is the problem.

I do the same thing at home! I have a driveway with a 45 degress encline, and the park brake holds the truck in neutral, only after is secure, i shift to park, this way it will be NO stress on the gears when is time to take out of Park! So, my park brake holds my heavy Titan Crewcab 4x4 in a 45 degree angle.
If yours doens't, you need to tighten it up!
David

cbenzon · 11-24-2006, 08:52 AM

Let me know what the dealer says because mine is doing the same thing. It is a big "CLUNK" so it sort of worries me. Thanks in advance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by priapus14

I use mine everyday when I pull into my driveway. My driveway has a slight downgrade to it so I use the brake but here recently I have noticed that when I shift into reverse to pull out of the driveway it seems hard to get into reverse and there is a big "CLUNK" when shifting into reverse. This is probably due to the pressure being put on the transmission because the parking brake doesn't hold and the truck rolls back till the transmission catches and holds the truck. I have sit in the driveway in neutral and put the parking brake on and the truck will roll down my driveway... I am going to have the dealer fix that this weekend. I will let you know what they say is the problem.

romoz · 11-24-2006, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moulin6801

I do the same thing at home! I have a driveway with a 45 degress encline, and the park brake holds the truck in neutral, only after is secure, i shift to park, this way it will be NO stress on the gears when is time to take out of Park! So, my park brake holds my heavy Titan Crewcab 4x4 in a 45 degree angle.
If yours doens't, you need to tighten it up!
David

Hey David,
I can't pass this one up without a little comment. I have a question about this 45 degree incline in your driveway. Maybe 4 or 5 degree incline but not 45 degree. 90 degrees is pointing straight up, so 45 would be half of that. The Interstate systems across the US has a maximum of 7 degree incline. Your driveway may be steeper than that by just a little but your truck wouldn't pull itself up a 45 degree incline even if you had prefect traction.

Getting back to the parking brake. I took my new Titan in to the dealer for an adjustment because I would get in and drive off with the parking brake still engaged all the way to the floor. The only way I would know the parking brake was still engaged was by the squeal once in a while from the rear brakes. The service manager gave me the line that the Titan parking brakes are not made to stop a vehicle but only to assist in keeping it parked along with the transmission in the Park position. I live on a hill and finally convinced him to tighten up the adjustment. Since then it is working great and will hold my truck from rolling down the hill with just the parking brake applied. But to be safe I also put it in park.
Romoz

priapus14 · 11-24-2006, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbenzon

Let me know what the dealer says because mine is doing the same thing. It is a big "CLUNK" so it sort of worries me. Thanks in advance.

The "CLUNK" you hear is the strain that is put on the transmission by the weight of the truck and the parking brake not holding like it should. What is happening is the gears in the transmission are bound and when you put it in reverse that "CLUNK" is the gears in the transmission suddenly unbinding. Not necessarily a good thing. The brake should hold the truck so there is no binding.

Oldfordowner · 11-24-2006, 12:44 PM

The Parking Brake on a Titan is a set of Drum Brakes inside the rear rotors. The shoes are not much wider than 1". They are definitely NOT designed to stop the vehicle, merely to provide a second method of securing the Parked vehicle. I too park on an inclined driveway. Since drum brakes work better going forward than reverse, I back into my drive, apply the parking brake, allow the vehicle to roll forward gently to stop, and then put it in park. that way the pressure is all on the P brake, not on the Parking pawl in the transmission. Makes it easier to get it out of park. If parking with the rear down, I just have to apply the brake a little harder.

moulin6801 · 11-27-2006, 11:04 AM

Ok, to make some of you happy, I will say that my driveway is not 45 degrees, but it is no less than 40 degrees! This 7 degrees encline may be true to HWY, sure is not true to private roads, and surelly driveways.
So, drive up or sometimes i back it up. After applying parking brakes, i slowly let my car do a full stop, as it is on Neutral, after i have a full stop, than I shift to P. This way, I NEVER have a clunck when I shift to R or D !
In the beginning I use to mess it up and hear the "Clunk", but since I got it down to a science, no have no clunks!
PS: If your parking brake is not holding your truck in a steep driveway, Take it to have it fix. Don't take the Bull **** story that is not supposed to do that, because my new CrewCab 2006 does it! As it should!!!
David

Justintoxicated · 01-09-2007, 02:01 PM

Did you ever ge this problem fixed?

I just took mine to the dealership and they said parking brake is not covered under waranty because I did not do the brake services (other than having the new brake kit installed 15k ago).

So they said it will probably cost about $45 to have it adjusted.

Hot_Titan · 01-09-2007, 02:31 PM

Sorry for not posting back but i'm taking it in for the bed liner to be resprayed so i'll kill two birds with one stone I just haven't worried too much about it cause of the lack of hills in Florida...I keep everyone posted

54warrior · 01-16-2007, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by romoz

Hey David,
Your driveway may be steeper than that by just a little but your truck wouldn't pull itself up a 45 degree incline even if you had prefect traction.

I feel confident that any 2wd truck, or car for that matter, is capable of driving up a 45 degree incline without any problems.