Electric parking brakes

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

Juddian:

biggriffin:
Well I’ve had one now for, 4+ years in an FH4, find it’s good, few annoying things, Like Auto-realese not available, Manual only, Just push it in, The not pulling out sufficient to engage properly, yup done that a few times, as for stopping at lights, or a hill when you just want a slight hold, Well just pull the aux-brake lever towards you, that engages the brakes, Better than the poxy Hill start button, I do like the automatic on when Ign is switched off, You can gently pull Hbrake lever gently to apply light pressure…

It’s new technology,

As you can tell i rarely if ever drive Volvos now, by auxilliary brake lever do you mean the 3 stage engine brake stalk, or is there a proper secondary brake lever (sort of modern day dead man) fitted which applies brakes independantly?

I too don’t use the hill start button, i’m in control ta very much, last time i used one was on a rental Stralis, the bloody gearbox took so long working out what gear it needed and once found re-applied power that the poxy hill start timed out and the lorry started rolling backwards, rubbish.

Don’t like the sound of Bald Bloke’s experience, might as well have a real parking brake that once it slots in place its there, end of, few times i’ve driven anything wioth an EPB i’m poncing about looking for a bloody light to tell me the brake’s on, don’t want that crap i want to hear a specific hiss of air (Clayton Dewandre Foden Style, no missing that) and feel and see a proper lever lock in place.

The 3 stage auxiliary lever, just applies trailer brakes, at speeds less than 5kmh.

22

Franglais:
Having a car with EPB, and being curious to know how these things behave before getting into an emergency situation, I can tell you that (some, mine at least) are like pulling the cable handbrake on hard. Clearly only working on rear axle, and I haven`t tried it in the wet or ice, but it does work to stop you without locking the wheels.

On my Audi you can hear the servos whirring as they engage the rear brakes. If I try and set off with the handbrake locked on (not in auto mode) then I’m not going anywhere. I’d assumed they were an “all or nothing” arrangement, unlike a cable system that could have different levels of tension applied.

23

Thanks Big Griffin ^^^ summat else i never knew, much obliged to me learned friend, so serves as a handy temporary manual brake for hills starts etc.

24

biggriffin:

Juddian:

biggriffin:
Well I’ve had one now for, 4+ years in an FH4, find it’s good, few annoying things, Like Auto-realese not available, Manual only, Just push it in, The not pulling out sufficient to engage properly, yup done that a few times, as for stopping at lights, or a hill when you just want a slight hold, Well just pull the aux-brake lever towards you, that engages the brakes, Better than the poxy Hill start button, I do like the automatic on when Ign is switched off, You can gently pull Hbrake lever gently to apply light pressure…

It’s new technology,

As you can tell i rarely if ever drive Volvos now, by auxilliary brake lever do you mean the 3 stage engine brake stalk, or is there a proper secondary brake lever (sort of modern day dead man) fitted which applies brakes independantly?

I too don’t use the hill start button, i’m in control ta very much, last time i used one was on a rental Stralis, the bloody gearbox took so long working out what gear it needed and once found re-applied power that the poxy hill start timed out and the lorry started rolling backwards, rubbish.

Don’t like the sound of Bald Bloke’s experience, might as well have a real parking brake that once it slots in place its there, end of, few times i’ve driven anything wioth an EPB i’m poncing about looking for a bloody light to tell me the brake’s on, don’t want that crap i want to hear a specific hiss of air (Clayton Dewandre Foden Style, no missing that) and feel and see a proper lever lock in place.

The 3 stage auxiliary lever, just applies trailer brakes, at speeds less than 5kmh.

If you hold the lever in two notches to the steering wheel while applying the park brake switch it keeps the trailer brakes on with the unit brakes while parked.

25

^^^ very useful…BUT, isn’t it about time controls were standardised, it takes months to learn the intricasies of a modern vehicle, often into your second or third year and still finding things out, what hope the poor sd who gets a different vehicle every day?

26

Nite Owl:
On my Audi you can hear the servos whirring as they engage the rear brakes. If I try and set off with the handbrake locked on (not in auto mode) then I’m not going anywhere. I’d assumed they were an “all or nothing” arrangement, unlike a cable system that could have different levels of tension applied.

Mention of that reminds me that when doing breakdown work I collected a car from a guy who got pinned between his Passat and the neighbours garage wall when it rolled on the slope after getting out and he wasn’t able to fight the gravity. It was undecided if it rolled due to failure or operator error, though in my mind setting park brake on automatically once ignition is off would be one of the few benefits over traditional lever.

He was in reasonable spirits despite being on crutches, dare say he now checks it twice or parks on the flat.

27

Any old timers remember the hand brake on the Ford D1000 from the 70s?

28

Gidders:
Any old timers remember the hand brake on the Ford D1000 from the 70s?

Pull twist and release, hopefully…

29

We have a heavy recovery side to our company and the driver tells me that he dreads going out to v4 Volvos because of the epb, any electrical problems will cause the brake to stay on resulting in much crawling under to wind the brakes off :slight_smile:

30

Gidders:
Any old timers remember the hand brake on the Ford D1000 from the 70s?

Anyone remember the…

The handbrake on a RHD Mercedes 608D van?

Release it by pulling upwards a little then lower it to the floor. In doing so trap your thumb between the handbrake and corner of the drivers seat.

You only ever did it that way once.

31

I’ve vague memories of a Merc car with the park brake engaged by the left foot, and released by a catch on the dash?
Might be ok-ish on an auto, but this was a manual. 1988?

32

Franglais:
I’ve vague memories of a Merc car with the park brake engaged by the left foot, and released by a catch on the dash?
Might be ok-ish on an auto, but this was a manual. 1988?

A superb parking brake, operating on small shoes/drums built into the rear discs brakes, effective and trouble free for ever but a right swine if you ever want to renew the shoes, ideal with Mercs excellent automatic boxes which have had an anti roll back feature for decades, as you found out NBG at all with the less than wonderful Merc manual box :smiling_imp:

33

Franglais:
I’ve vague memories of a Merc car with the park brake engaged by the left foot, and released by a catch on the dash?
Might be ok-ish on an auto, but this was a manual. 1988?

My 2001 CLK 320 had one of these I absolutely hated the sound of the clunk and clatter as I released it. Right until the moment when Juddian pointed out that pressing the footbrake would stop that! Boy did I feel stupid? :blush:

34

the maoster:

Franglais:
I’ve vague memories of a Merc car with the park brake engaged by the left foot, and released by a catch on the dash?
Might be ok-ish on an auto, but this was a manual. 1988?

My 2001 CLK 320 had one of these I absolutely hated the sound of the clunk and clatter as I released it. Right until the moment when Juddian pointed out that pressing the footbrake would stop that! Boy did I feel stupid? :blush:

Hardly fair on yourself mate, took me ages to twig it and needs a bit of practice to perfect sequence, but you’d have thought with all the robust overengineering Benz designed into their cars they could have come up with a damping mechanism from the off, bearing in mind that same clattery release was to be found in models costing around £60k in the 90’s :unamused:

For those reading this and wondering, Maoster means by pressing and gently releasing the parking brake foot pedal when you release keep released the catch with your right hand, if you didn’t do this the tension in the cable recoiled with a sudden clatter more expected in a 70’s Moskvitch :sunglasses:

35

the maoster:

Franglais:
I’ve vague memories of a Merc car with the park brake engaged by the left foot, and released by a catch on the dash?
Might be ok-ish on an auto, but this was a manual. 1988?

My 2001 CLK 320 had one of these I absolutely hated the sound of the clunk and clatter as I released it. Right until the moment when Juddian pointed out that pressing the footbrake would stop that! Boy did I feel stupid? :blush:

The Germans had this sussed out years ago, they shouted out at the top of their voice. Bremsklötze weg

We were more refined and said Chocks away!

36

The Ford D1000 ideally operated was pull,twist and release.However if the original pull was too vigorous there was no way to give an additional pull to release the thing.

37

Fear not, you can progressively apply it, you have to for the mot for example. We’ve a 15 plate FM 8 wheeler that has been absolutely shocking for reliability, but it’s had no issues at all with the epb.

I have no issues using it and jump between trucks with no issues, only annoyance until you get used to it is you got to have the door shut for it to auto release, and as it’s a blower truck and the windows don’t go all the way down, you tend to do a lot of manoeuvring with the door open, so you’ve just got to get into the habit of shutting the door initially until you’re moving.

And as for the hill hold, I don’t see why anyone has an issue with them! Our yard exit is a slight uphill T junction, the hill hold just does the same job as briefly holding it on the clutch as you come off the brake and onto the accelerator in a manual, it just saves you from putting the handbrake on

38

Juddian:
Satan’s design when in a particularly belligerent mood?

Seriously though, we all know you can perform a controlled stop with the standard parking brake.

But what about these new fangled bloody things, those i’ve been unfortunate to use are either on or off, if for some reason the foot valve failed or you had a leg seizure or for whatever reason you wanted to stop the vehicle on the parking brake, could you perform a controlled gentle stop with an EPB or would it be fully applied brakes instantly?

As already described by Simcor, biggriffin, nji and others the EPB works perfectly in all situations, normal, backup and emergency on the FH Volvo but as already said you do have to disciplined about checking for that red light sometimes to be sure the Park brake is really applied.

Normal. Press the foot pedal.
Backup. Press the pedal harder. This brakes direct and bypasses the ABS system etc if there is a system failure.
Emergency. Fully pull the parking brake “Switch” and it will bring the truck to a controlled stop.

Hill start works beautifully if you don’t fancy burning up the clutch on an auto box as does the trailer brake previously described by the wise one.
If you want parking brakes set on the trailer as well as the tractor unit you can just apply it.

There is nothing whatsoever in functionality missing on the new trucks but lots of new options.

Hope that helps with your double sudden simultaneous leg seizure problem next time it happens.

The bad news is if you get sudden double hand seizure or eye failure you are ■■■■ out of luck. More bad news I’m afraid is there is no foot valve fitted so it’s failure or reassuring hissing is not an option.

Driving Fodens is still an option if that’s your thing but I really don’t get your penchant for knocking modern trucks.

If you you are curious about how a system works just come on here and ask but stop pretending these new wagons are inferior designs and you know better by giving incorrect descriptions as you may mislead many who value your otherwise well informed and experienced opinion.

I fully accept your view that despite being simple to drive at a basic level, they are quite complex and varied to get to know in detail.

But it is simple to get onto the Volvo UK website and download your exact wagons drivers manual by entering your chassis number and the same for Scania and perhaps others as well.

You can get the Volvo manual as an App or as I prefer a PDF book and it’s full of really good stuff that I would never have figured out from behind the wheel. In our yard the exact same truck in a different model year can vary a lot.

The first night I jumped into a newer model at the time I had no idea what the annoying beep of the lane departure warning was droning on about as my previous motor didn’t have it.

But when I got the heart attack altogether was late one night the windscreen went red and a bugle went off in the cab just as a car cut tight across me to exit the M4, then I said enough is enough and started reading the pristine untouched drivers manual.

Didn’t realize till then how much stuff in those trucks I knew nothing about.

Apologies for going on a bit.

39

I did look in the handbook last night and couldn’t find any mention of if the EPB can be applied in an emergency situation.

Who’s going the be the crash test dummy to try it out at 56mph on an empty motorway■■?

40

stevieboy308:
Fear not, you can progressively apply it, you have to for the mot for example. We’ve a 15 plate FM 8 wheeler that has been absolutely shocking for reliability, but it’s had no issues at all with the epb.

I have no issues using it and jump between trucks with no issues, only annoyance until you get used to it is you got to have the door shut for it to auto release, and as it’s a blower truck and the windows don’t go all the way down, you tend to do a lot of manoeuvring with the door open, so you’ve just got to get into the habit of shutting the door initially until you’re moving.

And as for the hill hold, I don’t see why anyone has an issue with them! Our yard exit is a slight uphill T junction, the hill hold just does the same job as briefly holding it on the clutch as you come off the brake and onto the accelerator in a manual, it just saves you from putting the handbrake on

Thankyou, so it does serve as secondary brake, much obliged for that, presumably if you use it as a secondary brake it applies all the brakes and then (unless you tweak it to apply the trailer brakes whilst parked) releases the trailer pressure once the parking brake is fully applied and the red light on?

I simply do not like hill hold, and i won’t use it, i’m in control and not the vehicle but i have no problem with anyone else using it.