Re: [ihc] About those parking brakes .....

[John Hofstetter <hofs@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sep 23, 2004, at 9:44 AM, Urvig, Chad A wrote:

> Yeah, that's what I meant....it's a parking brake, not a driving brake
> :)  Yes, I can over come it with the 8.2L in my bus, but I have also
> driven my Scout with the e-brake on and not noticed right away.  I 
> think
> in something smaller than a 28,000 lb bus it should be a pretty
> effective parking brake (as long as you are not trying to drive with it
> on).  Something like that would be nice to have on my Scout....my
> e-brakes have never worked that well, especially after going through
> mud.
>
> Chad
I had an interesting parking brake incident this morning. In fact that 
whole damn morning was more interesting than I needed.

Earlier this morning, I loaded my propane tanks into the Terra which 
needed some miles to check out my tranny fluid change, the coolant 
fluid change, the bright lights kit, the MAD diode addition on the 
alternator, and went "up the hill" to get the tanks filled. Got up 
there OK, but sitting in front of the propane filling station, the 
Scout wouldn't start. Looked at the fuel pressure gauge and it said 0.  
So, sitting there interfering with their business, I get under the 
Scout and change out the Holley fuel pump. Only trouble is that I got 
down OK, under OK, but getting back up was proving next to impossible. 
Coarse sand on black top was letting my feet slip out from under me as 
I tried to get some leverage to get up. Finally took off my sweat shirt 
and swept an area large enough to get enough traction to get back up. 
New pump worked great, so came home to check fluid levels.

I'm up on my nearly level apron in front of my shop and following 
accepted protocol, I run the tranny through all the gears, put it into 
N, put on the parking brake, and get up on my milk carton to check the 
tranny fluid level. I, of all the people who have ever driven a truck 
ought to know how worthless our parking brakes are in keeping our 
trucks from rolling backwards. So, I'm up on the milk carton, leaning 
over trying to get that damn dip stick back into its hole, and I feel 
something moving. The Scout is backing down the hill with me soon 
holding on to the heater stub with one hand and my other hand dragging 
the concrete trying to stop the truck, scared to let go because of 
maybe being pulled under the front wheel. Wanda, who had come out to 
ask me a question is screaming in her most helpful way, but fortunately 
for me a friend of my son was there in the yard and ran and put on the 
brake. I was fine except the skin on my fingers of the concrete 
dragging hand is pretty much gone. A lot of blood but not much real 
damage.

Who knows better than I that Scout parking brakes are useless, 
especially on backwards grades?  No one, but knowing it best still 
doesn't count for too much when it comes to being stupid.

John

John Hofstetter
Ol' Saline
www.goldrush.com/~hofs