Parking Break - What are your thoughts on this?

Rick Onanian wrote:
: On 22 Aug 2003 13:48:35 GMT,
: wrote:
: Would that mean a parking brake on one wheel of a trike is not
: enough either?

: I'm not familiar with trike technology; is there
: a differential? If so, can you spin one wheel and
: the other spins the opposite direction, or can
: you spin one without the other? Or do both wheels
: ratchet (like a single rear bicycle wheel)?

Well, since we are talking recumbents, there are a multitude of
choices. Two wheels in front or back, drive in front or back,
steering in front or back, all independent choices - sort of - of
each other. If your drive is in the same end as the two wheels, I
think the drive can be in both wheels or just one wheel. Wheels
without drive just spin freely to any direction. I gather it would
be perfectly possible to build a differential for a trike, but too
complex and expensive for the vast majority of builders.

I could be partly mistaken, of course, I'm most familiar with the
tadpole (two wheels front) configuration, with front steering and
drive in the back wheel. A popular design for good reasons...

I think most trikes use the parking brake in just one wheel. On
the kind of tadpole I mentioned, it could be just one of the front
wheels or the rear wheel. A rear wheel brake is not very usable
except for parking and maybe as a drag brake for long descents.

: I was speaking of automatic transmission vehicles,
: but the issue is the same for manual.

: Anyway, when you park without setting the brake,
: and the car rolls that half inch or so that it
: does while it settles, that's play in the CV
: joints (if equipped) and/or U-joint in the
: driveshaft (also if so equipped). When it stops
: against the engine or auto-transmission's park
: lock, it stresses and wears the aforementioned
: joint; however, it's a very minor amount of
: wear. Still, setting the brake saves that wear
: (and of course, wears the parking brake system
: instead).

: It's important to aim your steering so that the
: vehicle will roll somewhere safe in the event
: that it does roll, whether it's a pedal powered
: trike or a V8 powered pickup; it should be done
: whether or not you set the brake.

Is engine braking bad in general, not just when stopping/parking?
Like you are coming to red lights ahead, and not braking, not
applying any gas either, but the drive is still connected so the
engine does the braking?

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html
varis at no spam please iki fi

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 08:00:00 -0400,
wrote:
Is engine braking bad in general, not just when stopping/parking?
Like you are coming to red lights ahead, and not braking, not
applying any gas either, but the drive is still connected so the
engine does the braking?

If you're talking about an automatic transmission
and leaving it in (D)rive, then it's no different
than adding your brake pedal, except of course
for the rate at which you will scrub speed.

No problems that I know of with engine braking,
except that you are wearing the components involved
more than you otherwise would. Those components,
while designed to be capable of braking that way,
are generally not designed to do it all the time.

That said, I did it a lot for a long time, and
never destroyed the components I thought would
die. The engine did die, but I think that was
from using a compact car to tow another compact
car...it just wasn't made for that much towing.

Okay, that, and the abuse I otherwise always did
put on it. But I really did expect the auto
transmission, the torque converter, or the CV
joints to go on that car, and they continue to
this day, long after the engine was replaced.

--
Rick Onanian