JHZR2
Staff member
You should use the parking brake every time you park. This is one of the questions on the driving test here and is a law.
Exactly. Every time... this is not rocket science.
I have a 3/4 ton Chevy with even a more sophisticated system. It has rear disc brakes with a integral drum assembly with small drum type shoes for a parking brake. They have already broken once at the cable ends. For the new set, I spray Krown rust inhibitor , (I suppose Fluid Film would work just as well) on the cable ends outside where the pivot assembly is, every fall and spring . My rule is to apply them if I stop on any surface with a grade.
This type of system is very common. All my old Mercedes use exactly this setup, so it was in use at least back to the late 70s. My 1998 Chevy had this setup too...
for whatever reason, the Mercedes design always works. My Chevy setup is pretty weak, even though I use it every time. The return spring is much weaker than Mercedes’ as well. But even my Dodge Ram, whichnjust has giant rear drums, doesn’t have thst great of a pb.