Hi! I figure the parking brake was put on to meet DOT / Inspection mandates. For serious parking...Low Range / First Gear and apply the parking brake as a habit. Works for me! Take care... Mike

 

My driveway is on a rather steep incline. My house is at least 8 feet above the road surface. When it snows, my daughter can't get her car up the incline without a running start. My old YJ would simply idle up to the top. I'm sure the JK will do the same when it eventually snows.



I set the parking brake, put the transmission into park and don't think twice about it. I've never had an issue with the brake not holding. It will hold the JK without using park.

Just remember to adjust the parking brake periodically, or have your dealer do it for you.


My regards,

Widewing

 

I left our 6sp in 3rd gear one night to go into the dr's office w/ our 2 year old. Didn't set the parking break. By the time I came out I was pissed because someone had stolen the JK. Only to discover that it had rolled back 1/2 way across the parking lot. I was lucky it was late at night and not a lot of people/cars in the lot. Scary thing was the parking lot was NOT THAT STEEP of an incline. almost as if you had to LOOk to notice it had a grade to it.

Every since then, I make sure it's in either R or 1st and I really yank up on that parking brake. It has never failed me, and I've never found the JK in the fence or rolled out of any parking spots.

 

My E-brake works OK... but I REALLY gotta yank on the handle. Like, so hard that my wife has a tough time with it.

 

I have an '07 and I use the brake all the time, but have not parked on any steep inclines. It seems to hold though on the mild slopes. Reading this post has me nervous now, especially after seeing that pic.

 

So far mine is folding with no problems, Alway use it due to 6 speed.

 

i just was introduced to the parking pawl thing..i was parked the other night on a decent incline, nothing crazy, and i noticed it felt a little harder to get it out of park..i remember reading in the manual it'd be "harder to shift out of park" but it never said anywhere it could damage it..started freaking out about it even though i've probably only parked on a "hill" 10 times since i bought the thing.. and then decided anytime im on any incline, its on..i live in maine and i have never in my life seen anyone use the E brake in an auto..but i baby the JK big time haha..so HOPEFULLY, my E brake works better than what i read on here, because i plan to start using it more often, and maybe even all the time if its not cold enough to freeze it up lol...hopefully i didn't mess up the parking pawl...

 

That's interesting. My Rubicon has excellent parking brakes, but my wife's Liberty has had crappy parking brakes since it was new.

Chris.

 

My 04 Sebring is an automatic - I only use the parking break on large inclines or declines and then I put it on BEFORE shifting into park to take some of the stress off the transmission.
The '08 Jeep is is a manual and you HAVE to make SURE you pull the parking break all the way up every time you park with a stick.
Many a minor fender bender has occurred here at Disney with someone only doing one or the other with a manual transmission.

 

My 2008, new holds fine. I'm Irish so it may just be my abundance of luck working for me.