Thread: Effectiveness of Parking Brake on Steep Slopes?

Originally Posted by one_iota

Robert Pepper discusses the improvement of parking with the Generation 2 Ford Everest whereby the centre differential can be locked when stationary minimising the potential for the vehicle to slide down a slippery slope.

Ford Everest parks on a hill - what's fixed in Gen 2 - YouTube

The old Defender with the centre differential locked and with the handbrake acting via the drum brake on the tail shaft has all four wheels braked.

This got me thinking about what happens with the L663 under these circumstances given that the parking brake acts only on the rear wheels.

Any ideas?

You have the rear park brake plus the transmission parking pawl acting across the attached wheels, assuming you put it into park. Stop overthinking things

Originally Posted by one_iota

Robert Pepper discusses the improvement of parking with the Generation 2 Ford Everest whereby the centre differential can be locked when stationary minimising the potential for the vehicle to slide down a slippery slope.

The old Defender with the centre differential locked and with the handbrake acting via the drum brake on the tail shaft has all four wheels braked.

This got me thinking about what happens with the L663 under these circumstances given that the parking brake acts only on the rear wheels.

Any ideas?

Easy to test - park it, apply hand brake, then jack up one front wheel and see if it spins.

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

You have the rear park brake plus the transmission parking pawl acting across the attached wheels, assuming you put it into park. Stop overthinking things

this method still doesn't address the point that the centre diff may not be locked, so the front wheels aren't locked up with the rears. And if you place the trans in park and rely on the park pawl to hold the vehicle on the slope, you risk damaging the pawl when you try to move it into gear again! .. it's under stress.

I had this issue on my Rodeo. Being used to half a lifetime of RRC(ie. no front locking hubs) I stupidly made my way up a 'not really' 4WD track, that quickly got very steep and needed 4WD as rear drive only wasn't making it up.
Had to pull up to lock the hubs, but the rear only park brake did the same thing as described in the video. Rears only not enough friction to hold it on the steep hill. Didn't want to reverse back down about 100m, so I angled the ute so it would rest on the embankment to hold it on the slope, just so I could get out and lock the hubs.

Does the L663 have a centre diff lock or a viscous coupling?

The L322 handbrake works only on the rear wheels and isn’t very effective - even with new disc/drums and brake shoes.

Originally Posted by p38arover

Does the L663 have a centre diff lock or a viscous coupling?

The L322 handbrake works only on the rear wheels and isn’t very effective - even with new disc/drums and brake shoes.

There in lies the rub!

AFAIK the front driveline is only engaged via clutch plates in the differential when the computer judges that drive/torque should be sent to the front. In the diesel engined L663 it is rear wheel drive until the differential is activated automatically and there is no manual locking method. So engaging the transmission parking pawl will only effect the rear driveline.

But there might be more to it and that is why I've raised this.

Originally Posted by one_iota

The old Defender with the centre differential locked and with the handbrake acting via the drum brake on the tail shaft has all four wheels braked.

No, the old Defender (classic) with the centre diff locked and handbrake applied effectively will only brake 2 wheels (one on each axles)

Also the transmission handbrake on all the old school Land Rovers is only average at best and should never be relied upon.