I'd also recommend leaving it in reverse not first. Reverse has a lower gear ratio that gives it more holding power.

Not sure what neglectful means here :icon14:, but I have also put my cars in gear for years. The parking brake has been used sparingly, if at all, unless on a very steep grade.

No issues at all.

Never had to replace a stretched parking brake cable either. :tup:

:bowrofl:

Parking brake on plus..................

"I'd also recommend leaving it in reverse not first. Reverse has a lower gear ratio that gives it more holding power."

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:

An example of our Forum doing good. It educates us without us having to learn the hard way and provides useful information for mods, sources for these mods, etc. :tup: :tup: :tup:

I learned to drive a "standard" transmission (That's what my grandfather called it.) in a 1969 Dodge pickup with "three on the tree". I don't think it even had an e-brake, so I parked it in gear. No particular gear - just the one I was in when I stopped. Later I delivered tires for a summer job in a Chevy 454 dualie. I always parked that truck with the e-brake and in gear because it had a bad habit of popping out of gear.

I've always used both since then. It's just a habit. I have no idea if you can knock a modern MT out of gear just by opening the frakkin' door. ;)

lol done that before.

I was always taught to put it in gear and use the e-brake. I'd rather put a minor strain on my transmission than risk the very tiny chance that my car could roll and hurt someone.

As for the OP - I've had the car roll back a few times when parking in my driveway and just putting the e-brake on. Maybe 2 or 3 times out of the hundreds of times I've parked. It always held fine the second time I put the e-brake on though it did reinforce my inclination to put it in gear too.

Good discussion!

Continuing the interesting discussion...

I've read that if you're parked on a hill facing downward, you should put the car in reverse. If you facing up a hill, you should park in 1st. This way the car won't be able to roll if the hill is steep enough since the gear you selected is opposite the rolling direction. Now I don't know how realistic a car rolling forward in 1st gear is. It's a tall enough gear that it would take one hell of a steep slope to make it roll. But if you park on a hill in 5th, I'd bet the car may roll forward (ebrake not engaged).

that doesn't make any sense. if the car is in an opposing gear and rolls, it will simply turn the engine backwards. its no harder to turn the engine backwards than forwards. and yes, higher gears like 3rd or higher will not hold the car because it is easier for the transmission to rotate the engine due to the torque multiplication.

Actually you'd be wrong. 1st gear is 3.794, reverse is 3.446. 1st wins.

Damn I stand corrected, wonder why reverse is so high.

Not sure, it was that way in the 350 as well, in case you want to do 45mph in reverse I guess.

drum type rear e brakes tend to be pretty easy to adjust. If you were to adjust the e brake at the drum after the first break in period, it should be fine. Also you should check the tension on the lever wire, because that needs adjustment after break in period.

So, are you saying that you *know* this will resolve the issue, or that you *think* this will resolve the issue?