Note to all who drive stick shifts

[MAranger]

I'm not sure exactly where I picked this up, but I prefer the term "secure" to park.

Use your brake, and leave it in gear every time. In shady/high traffic areas the doors get locked. Only after the truck is immovable and locked up is it secure.

Those who just park the thing in neutral will and have paid for it, as evidenced by every post in this thread.

SECURE IT!

 

[dbrutherford]

I have four stories

#1: One time the ex gf needed her car jumped. Well it was her mom's old Merc Wagon 4 door variety. I pulled up to it on a hill almost bumper to bumper, say a 4 foot gap. I was in my 88 Ranger ext cab 4x4 2.9L. I hook up the jumper cables to each car explaining to her how it is done. Then told her to get into her car to be ready to start it. I got back in my truck and started up the Ranger to get that little extra juice from the alternator going. I jumped out leaving the truck running and forgot to set the ebrake. Luckily I instantly realized what I did and tried to hold the truck back on the hill. I basically eased it against the bumper of the Merc Wagon. The Ranger bumper went over top of the wagon bumper and cracked one headlight and some cheesy running lights that were between the two headlights. When I backed up the truck bumper scratched the other bumper since it was ontop of the car bumper. Her mom said don't worry about it so I never paid to fix it. Then in one of those WW3 it is over bf/gf fights her mom says yeah you are going to have to pay to fix that. But we made up and I never had to fix it. They eventually sold the car and we split up. Good thing the car was there or my truck would have taken a long ride down a steep hill. The neighbor on the other street did that once and his Geo Tracker smashed into a house.

#2: Same gf had an Eagle Talon stick she just bought. She forgot to set the ebrake and wasn't too familiar with standards. Well it rolled down my street some and into my neighbor's yard. Luckily a pile of wood he had stacked up like a tee pee for a fire stopped the car before it smashed into his garage.

#3: Same neighbor but it was my friend's 70's era Ford full size with a 460. He must have done the same thing as the ex gf and jumped out without settign the ebrake leaving the truck running. He was picking me to go to high school some 13 years ago. Well his truck rolled while idling into the neighbors yard hitting a tree that had fallen over. The lazy neighbor never cut it up and the tree laid there for years. The truck smashed through the tree and almost into the garage. My dad was standing in the kitchen talking to my friend. He said "Chad, your truck is rolling down the street." I was upstairs in the bathroom colmbing my hair. I looked out teh window and thought what is he doing in the neighbor's yard? Is he turning around? He simply put teh truck in 4x4 and backed out. I don't think the neighbor ever knew. I said you should charge them for breaking up that tree!

#4: Another friend had an F150 300 6cyl that was an early 80's model. It was teh cherriest of all early 80's trucks since his step dad never drove it and kept it spotless the truck's whole life. Well he either didn't set the ebrake or as he claims "the cable broke". The truck rolled backwards about 50 to 75 yards and smashed into his step dad's new garage. A new "used" bed, a front fender, a hood, and a paint job were needed to make the truck cherry again. The grage needed a new door and some blocks replaced.


I drove around for two years without ebrakes. I had to carry a block of wood to keep my standard from rolling. I am doing an explorer rear end swap on my ranger now. I spent the extra coin for soem locar ebrake cables. I like having brakes that work

 

[adsm08]

Yeah, strictly speaking there is no such thing as an "Emergency Brake" and the only true "E-brake" is the electronically activated parking brake on the Lincoln LS, and that's e for electronic, not emergency. They aren't designed to stop a moving vehicle, only to keep a stationary one still.

Also, yes, you can break your auto, or just get it stuck in park if you don't use it. Proper proceedure for parking an auto, as given by Ford is:
Stop vehicle
Apply parking brake
Put in park
turn off engine.

I can't tell you how many cars I've failed for inspection because the cables were frozen up and the people get mad when I tell them they need new parking brake cables because "They never use it, so they don't need the cables." Or people who get in and think I've broken something because the brake light is on and the car won't move, and they don't know how to release the brake.

Lastly, I knew this guy once who had an audi with manual tranny, would park it in neutral and never set the brake. That car is wrecked now.