Hand break on or off

[RegandPat]

I have parked the van in the drive that has a small slope chocked both wheels plus wheel lock, legs down and hand break on full.

Now the question, do I take the hand break off or leave on ?

The van maybe sat there for 4 to 6 weeks with the break on, longer in the winter and I did that with a car and the breaks locked on.

Reg and Pat

 

[PhilFraeHowMill]

Reg & Pat, I always leave mine off, you will find that if left for a long time, the brake shoes can bind to the brake drum, however, please do make sure your van is parked safely & secure.

 

[xtrailman]

I do the same as phil, at home and on site.

Not sure if the brakes will size on, but thats what i do since reading the advice some where.

It makes sense as the car brakes stick on if parked up over night with wet brakes.

 

[foshy]

Hi,

I always leave our brake in the off position, even when we are staying in it. Only time I leave it on is if we are parked on a steep hilly site! and then I chock the wheels to.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi all

I tend to leave the hand brake off if the van is to be left more than a week, however the alko hand book clearly states that if the van is parked on any kind of slope the handbrake should be in the fully on ie "vertical" position. as only then would the spring cylinder be compressed enough to stop the van running away.

extract from hand book :- "However, if the handbrake is NOT

fully applied to the last tooth (i.e.vertical) and is set to some lesser position than the full vertical. The spring cylinder is not fully compressed and problems will almost

certainly arise after the caravan/trailer has been uncoupled from the towing unit.

If the caravan/trailer is parked on a reverse slope or if it is pushed backwards, the shoes and expanding clutch will tend to move with the direction of rotation (reverse). This movement puts pressure on the spring-loaded auto-reverse lever,

causing it to collapse. This releases the shoes from the drum and the caravan/trailer will run away.

Operating the Handbrake

Always chock the wheels when parking the caravan/trailer on sloping sites. For successful parking on a slope or

steep hill, the operator need only apply the handbrake with one hand while gently pushing the caravan/trailer a centimetre or two backwards. The user must supply this small but essential backward movement to ensure that the fulcrum of the transmission lever moves past the point of reverse, thus preventing the lever from collapsing as it would normally do when reversing.