Parking/emergency brake not engaging

Yeah, I doubt you have 1950 lbs of payload.

For reference, I have just under 1300 lbs. Now, your truck is a few hundred pounds lighter than mine but I also have a 7200 lb GVWR, whereas I believe yours is 7000 lbs.

What does the sticker inside your driver's door say for payload capacity?

 

GVWR: 7200lbs
Curb weight is 5215lbs

 

Nice! I guess if the wife is only willing to ride around in her Pilot, I should sell my truck and buy one of those for towing my trailer.

 

Took my truck to a second shop yesterday to get the parking brake adjusted. It was definitely working better when I picked it up but even unloaded, still a long way from holding solid on a 12% grade per that SEA standard. Told the mechanic, who'd been working on trucks for 40 years, that this wasn't the result I was looking for and he took it for a test drive with me. He acknowledged that it wasn't up to the standard and argued, just as the previous mechanic had, that the parking brake on this truck just isn't designed to hold like that, but more to the point, he argued that it wasn't important. He pointed to his 3/4 ton pickup, parked on a steep hill, and said he's been parking it there for years without the parking brake on at all. He said these trucks should hold fine, even loaded down near max payload, just with the transmission in park and that doing so long term wouldn't cause any damage to the trans.

Is there some truth in this argument? Is the common concern about putting the weight of the truck on the transmission outdated?

 

I don't think the design of transmissions has changed that much since I first heard the advice to always use the parking brake.

My understanding is there's a pin in the transmission that holds it in park. If the vehicle were to slip and that pin break, you're looking at an expensive repair.

 

Then I guess the question becomes, how strong is that pin, or more specifically, under what conditions does the risk of failure become significant?

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/parking-brake-adjustment.16430/

https://www.tundras.com/threads/am-i-being-screwed-with-weak-e-brake.119911/#post-3077056

 

Yeah, I read through both those threads @1UP (there are several posts by me in the top one). Still have the same questions about:
1) whether it's actually reasonable to expect the parking brake to be able to hold firmly in neutral on a 12% slope, and
2) if this most recent mechanic is correct that the transmission pin is designed to be strong enough to hold the truck on such a slope without the parking brake

I guess anther way of asking #2 is, who here has ever left their truck on a slope in Park without the parking brake and had that pin fail, or has had transmission damage that was determined to be the result of long-term failure to make use of the parking brake?

 

I don't think you will ever find anyone with a fail, but per this Toyota page you should use it.

https://www.peruzzitoyota.com/blogs...people don't,joints, transmission, and clutch.

 

Awesome info ! When warmer out, going to tackle this.