Went out playing with my GV today. Stopped on a "slight" downhill. set park brake, let up on service brake pedal and GV crept forward. Does pressure on service brake pedal influence park brake setting? I tried setting again with slightly more service brake pedal, with same result...after a few inches GV stopped. Second attempt, not first.
Thanks,
Jim
I understand that the parking brake should hold the coach in place under almost any condition. In gear or not, hill or flat. Independent of the service brake. It should be adjustable. Probably a good idea to have it checked.
Turn off the retarder on the next trip and just use the brakes.
Then, slack adjusted are tight. I've never had much luck with the "auto" slack adjusters actually adjusting well.
The instructions for my coach are to place the transmission in neutral, depress service brake, flip switch on dash to set....I have no retarder. (or brake lever as does my Travco).
Jim
Do you have air brakes or hydraulic brakes?
Hydrolic....
Jim
That is what I thought. If I remember correctly the park brake is a drum on the driveshaft with brake shoes in it, it mat need to be adjusted or the brake shoes may have lost the lining on them
I have sent you a pm about your park brake, if you have questions, you can call me.
Several years ago, while we were still researching, someone bought a "new" 'Bird. On the way home they stopped at a rest area, set the parking brake, shut down and headed inside. When they came back their coach was gone and people in the parking lot were all excited about the motor home that rolled off the cliff. No people or pets inside, but the coach was a total loss. After reading about that I decided that I'm going to chock the tires every time I stop. Sometimes, if we're just stopping for lunch and staying in the coach I'll not chock if it seems that we're on pretty level ground, but it we're going to be more than a few feet away from the door the chocks are in place.
The owner of that air brake coach was a brand new RVer. He was pretty sure he used the park brake. Others were a bit less convinced.....
On most modern motorhomes the parking brake is spring actuated. When engine running and parking brake off air pressure compresses spring allowing normal air actuated brakes. With brake on, or lack of air pressure, spring is used to apply brake. I have heard from several people, and found out myself, [lost compressor and ignored low air warning] that spring brakes will slow coach quickly but not near as fast as your regular air brakes.
If I had to park on a steep hill, I would use chocks.
Jim
Mine is on the driveshaft and my Nephew says it looks to be hydraulically operated but we haven't determined how or from where as yet(other than the switch on the dash....).
It should have hydraulic from the power steering pump to release the brake and then has a strong spring in the hydraulic chamber to apply the brake when you flip the dash switch.