Thread: Use of handbrake on downhill

Personally I wouldn't use the PARK brake to slow the vehicle unless I was in an emergency situation (foot brakes failed heading towards a school crossing full of kids type of scenario).

The park brake is not designed to be applied while the vehicle is moving. If the hill is so steep that first low has you going too fast, maybe you shouldn't be there in the first place.

I will use the foot brake on some steep hills near here, but they are only short descents and they are severly rutted, hence the need for very low speeds on descent.

Originally Posted by waynep

This may sound silly but ;

I was told by someone who is accredited 4WD trainer that on steep downhills (when lowrange is not quite low enough), it is acceptable practice to use the the handbrake judiciously to slow the vehicle. This is beacause on Landrovers the handbrake acts on the driveshaft rather than the wheels directly.

Then - a long term Defender man stongly advised against this practice and said the handbrake should only be used as an emergency brake - Discos and Fenders have discs all round and should be feathering the footbrake.

Who is right ? I thought method 2 was not good practice as it locks the wheels causing a slide.

For starters the Land Rover has the lowerst low range of all production 4x4's so (if manual ) low is low enough. Unless that is you put bigger tyers on then that will throw that out.

Or if you have an Auto which also buggers things up as they don't have the best engine breaking.
In this case very very light aplication of the brakes is best. The problem about telling people this is they never hear the light and wack their foot on the brake and cause all sorts of problems. But i would say never the hand brake. Two reasons. If the hand brake grips it will stop the truck dead, or break somthing underneath. And secondly , How many Ladies do you know , where you can trust the hand brake to work

When teaching people to drive off road. Men are the worse as they know everything. Women are easy and the best to teach to drive off road as they come with an open mind, and will do everything you tell them. Where as men don't and are a pain

I've also been told that the handbrake can be used (by a professional trainer with years of LR experience).
I have done so myself quite a few times (V8 auto RR) when the engine braking has not been enough. It works quite well in my experience.

exactly the situation i found myself in last weekend...

big slope, boiled brakes, 1.5 tonne trailer up my butt, driving an auto...

handbrake worked a treat.... took about 1 minute to cook the oil out of the pads by the smell of it :P

got me to the bottom....

Well Glad this question has finally popped up

Scouce and me ( I for those grammatically correct) had this discussion a while ago its my opinion that the hand brake should not be used,on steep descents as it applies too much strain on the U/J's this was wot I wz told years ago on my driver training course.

If you feather the brakes light cadence brake there should be no problem with the brakes getting hot.also you wont lock up a wheel.

I look forward to reading the posts on this one

(The park brake is not designed to be applied while the vehicle is moving. If the hill is so steep that first low has you going too fast, maybe you shouldn't be there in the first place. )

Bigjon I hope this wz said in jest as wots the point in owning the best 4x4 if you do not attempt difficult terrain

T

Maybe a little tongue in cheek... Besides, as a Range Rover owner, one would not take ones pride and joy off the bitumen, it scuffs the tyre polish...

Originally Posted by tony

Scouce and me ( I for those grammatically correct) had this discussion a while ago its my opinion that the hand brake should not be used,on steep descents as it applies too much strain on the U/J's this was wot I wz told years ago on my driver training course.

And I still can't see what how using the handbrake would affect the univerals. It's the same as having a very low range gear - the load goes through the driveline the same way.

In an auto, light acceleration will lock up the converter then feathering of the brakes gives you better control on steep downhill's.