This just seemed like a line of BS when my buddy was explaining it to me. I told him that when I park my Vette I just stop the car throw it in "P" and apply E brake only if I am on a hill otherwise I don't. Well he said that putting the car in "P" first then applying the E brake after wears down the tranny!! lol I asked him if he was drinking already that day but he swore up and down on that one saying that you should come to a stop, put the e brake on fully and then when the car is secure with the ebrake then you can put the tranny into P. It still sounds crazy to me!

This just seemed like a line of BS when my buddy was explaining it to me. I told him that when I park my Vette I just stop the car throw it in "P" and apply E brake only if I am on a hill otherwise I don't. Well he said that putting the car in "P" first then applying the E brake after wears down the tranny!! lol I asked him if he was drinking already that day but he swore up and down on that one saying that you should come to a stop, put the e brake on fully and then when the car is secure with the ebrake then you can put the tranny into P. It still sounds crazy to me!

agree....:duel:

Wow never heard that before.All I know is When you park your it helps to turn your wheels all the way left or right on a hill and apply the e-brake.It also helps so you won't get towed:smilielol5:

There's nothing in the transmission that will ever wear out. There is a big dog that engages into a bunch of coarse teeth in your transmission when putting it in PARK. That's good enough. But if you happen to park on a steep hill, it doesn't hurt to turn your wheels into the curb and apply your parking brake as well. Just to be extra safe.

According to my 1991 owners manual when parking on a hill the parking brake should be set before putting the car in park. If the transmission is put in Park first before the brake is set the weight of the car may put too much force on the parking pawl. It may also make it difficult to pull the selector lever out of Park. This is called "torque lock". When getting ready to move the vehicle, take it out of Park before releasing the parking brake.
If "torque lock" does occur, you may have to have another vehicle push your vehicle uphill to take some of the pressure off the transmission while you pull the selector lever out of park.

The above was basically copied out of my 1991 owners manual, page 166, under the subject TORQUE LOCK. So your buddy is kind of right. You should set the parking brake first, but I do not think it will wear out the transmission if you do not do so. But it could cause you some problems.

According to my 1991 owners manual when parking on a hill the parking brake should be set before putting the car in park. If the transmission is put in Park first before the brake is set the weight of the car may put too much force on the parking pawl. It may also make it difficult to pull the selector lever out of Park. This is called "torque lock". When getting ready to move the vehicle, take it out of Park before releasing the parking brake.
If "torque lock" does occur, you may have to have another vehicle push your vehicle uphill to take some of the pressure off the transmission while you pull the selector lever out of park.

The above was basically copied out of my 1991 owners manual, page 166, under the subject TORQUE LOCK. So your buddy is kind of right. You should set the parking brake first, but I do not think it will wear out the transmission if you do not do so. But it could cause you some problems.


Yeah, you ARE right. I forgot how hard it is to take it out of PARK when the car is parked on a REAL steep hill. Your owners manual is right about the recommended procedure. But as far as the transmission goes, you will NEVER bust the big massive parking pawl inside.

Yeah, you ARE right. I forgot how hard it is to take it out of PARK when the car is parked on a REAL steep hill. Your owners manual is right about the recommended procedure. But as far as the transmission goes, you will NEVER bust the big massive parking pawl inside.

The problems I was thinking about centered around having another car push the Corvette uphill a little bit to take the pressure off of the parking pawl. I could see lots of things going wrong then. The transmission is in park, another car pushing on the back end of a Corvette, against gravity, etc. Just use your imagination.

The vette would only need to be moved a fraction of an inch. Just enough to take some of the weight off the parking pawl.

And for that fraction of a inch, I will be callin some buddies to help hand push My car, no way in hell another car is pushing mine.:burnout:

Yeah, you ARE right. I forgot how hard it is to take it out of PARK when the car is parked on a REAL steep hill. Your owners manual is right about the recommended procedure. But as far as the transmission goes, you will NEVER bust the big massive parking pawl inside.

I agree, I have seen those things out of the car and they are beefy!