Car transmissions - Standard or automatic?

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Profile Gordon Lowe
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Message 1556521 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 3:08:44 UTC - in response to Message 1556514.  

I use three ways of securing the car -- even if not parked on a hill:

3) "Curb" the front wheels (if curb available).


I've always had trouble remembering which way to turn the wheels on a hill.
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Message 1556524 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 3:22:19 UTC - in response to Message 1556521.  

I use three ways of securing the car -- even if not parked on a hill:

3) "Curb" the front wheels (if curb available).


I've always had trouble remembering which way to turn the wheels on a hill.

So if it rolls it rolls out of the street, not into the street.
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Message 1556526 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 3:25:01 UTC - in response to Message 1556524.  

I use three ways of securing the car -- even if not parked on a hill:

3) "Curb" the front wheels (if curb available).


I've always had trouble remembering which way to turn the wheels on a hill.

So if it rolls it rolls out of the street, not into the street.


I know that's the idea, but it's not intuitive to me which way turning the tires accomplishes that.
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Profile James Sotherden
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Message 1556542 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 4:25:30 UTC - in response to Message 1556526.  

I use three ways of securing the car -- even if not parked on a hill:

3) "Curb" the front wheels (if curb available).


I've always had trouble remembering which way to turn the wheels on a hill.

So if it rolls it rolls out of the street, not into the street.


I know that's the idea, but it's not intuitive to me which way turning the tires accomplishes that.

just pretend you want to turn onto the side walk.
[/quote]

Old James
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Profile Gordon Lowe
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Message 1556544 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 4:28:49 UTC - in response to Message 1556542.  

I use three ways of securing the car -- even if not parked on a hill:

3) "Curb" the front wheels (if curb available).


I've always had trouble remembering which way to turn the wheels on a hill.

So if it rolls it rolls out of the street, not into the street.


I know that's the idea, but it's not intuitive to me which way turning the tires accomplishes that.

just pretend you want to turn onto the side walk.


Ok, I can wrap my head around that. :~) Thanks, James.
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Message 1556576 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 5:33:06 UTC - in response to Message 1556545.  

Whoops. double post.

Suppose to double clutch not double post.
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Message 1556611 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 6:25:16 UTC - in response to Message 1556545.  

Whoops. double post.

I thought that rule only applied in the TLPTPW threads....

I was taught when parking on a hill, if aimed uphill, turn the front wheels away from the curb, and if parked downhill, turn towards the curb, so if the brakes fail, gravity will put the tires against the curb and you won't roll far.
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Message 1556722 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 14:20:42 UTC

Celt, parking brakes work fine in Alberta winters, but sometimes give problems in Ontario winters. We have a lot more wet snow here, and this can turn into ice overnight on the exposed portions of the brake mechanism. This prevents it from fully releasing the next morning, even though handles go to the "off" position and lights turn off. Most drivers just drive on, with a partially set brake. They don't realize this is happening, until the next time they take the car in for brake servicing.

Must say this has only happened to me on older frame style cars. The new unibodies seem to have all the moving brake bits inside, out of the snow.

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Message 1556727 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 14:40:33 UTC

All this talk about foot brakes vs. hand brakes, reminds me of the bright light controls operated by the foot on a Chevy Malibu my parents had in the 70's. I thought that was pretty neat. :~)
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Message 1556744 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 15:46:35 UTC - in response to Message 1556722.  

Point!

The last car I drove in Ontario had the "E" brake
freeze up (Cable rust) in three years.
The car was a Ford so I just thought.......
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Message 1556754 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 15:56:13 UTC - in response to Message 1556727.  

All this talk about foot brakes vs. hand brakes, reminds me of the bright light controls operated by the foot on a Chevy Malibu my parents had in the 70's. I thought that was pretty neat. :~)

I believe a lot of the Fords from the 50's and 60's in the UK had that, a floor mounted headlamp dip switch.

This one certainly did 1955 Ford Consul

The first car my dad had that I remember, this is the actual car.


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Message 1556765 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 16:09:11 UTC - in response to Message 1556754.  

All this talk about foot brakes vs. hand brakes, reminds me of the bright light controls operated by the foot on a Chevy Malibu my parents had in the 70's. I thought that was pretty neat. :~)

I believe a lot of the Fords from the 50's and 60's in the UK had that, a floor mounted headlamp dip switch.

This one certainly did 1955 Ford Consul

The first car my dad had that I remember, this is the actual car.



Nice picture - thanks for attaching it. I don't know why they did away with that floor switch; seemed pretty handy to me.
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Message 1556766 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 16:09:27 UTC

On curbing --

1) Downhill: Angle front tires towards the curb.

2) Uphill: Angle front tires away from the curb.

On emergency brake --

My Alaska and N. Dak. friends have said that extremely cold weather
could freeze up the brake cable. It seems logical, though have never
experienced this. Perhaps, celttooth, or anyone who has lived in
cold-weather climes, would know more?
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Message 1556783 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 16:38:44 UTC - in response to Message 1556766.  

On curbing --

1) Downhill: Angle front tires towards the curb.

2) Uphill: Angle front tires away from the curb.

On emergency brake --

My Alaska and N. Dak. friends have said that extremely cold weather
could freeze up the brake cable. It seems logical, though have never
experienced this. Perhaps, celttooth, or anyone who has lived in
cold-weather climes, would know more?

The more common problem with automatic transmission cars is disuse of the emergency brake. Most people never use it, and over the years, road salt tends to corrode the control cable within it's sheath. So, when for some reason somebody then attempts to use it much later, either the cable is stuck and won't actuate the brakes or it does and won't release or release fully.
"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

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Message 1556788 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 16:43:09 UTC - in response to Message 1556766.  

And now just a quick a word about cold weather in Canada. (Off topic?)

Arrrrrrrggggggggghh!


(I don't wanna' hear nothin' about brass any thing.....)
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Message 1556789 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 16:43:57 UTC - in response to Message 1556788.  

not even "brass monkeys" :-)
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Message 1556829 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 17:44:55 UTC - in response to Message 1556783.  

The more common problem with automatic transmission cars is disuse of the emergency brake. Most people never use it, and over the years, road salt tends to corrode the control cable within it's sheath. So, when for some reason somebody then attempts to use it much later, either the cable is stuck and won't actuate the brakes or it does and won't release or release fully.

A couple of my cars have had this problem. One was my parents' Monte Carlo, the other was the 79 Malibu POS I never should have bought.

BTW, some cars have a foot-operated parking brake, so hand brake isn't always an accurate description.
David
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Message 1556834 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 17:46:54 UTC

Found on road dead!

F.O.R.D.
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Message 1556839 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 18:01:29 UTC - in response to Message 1556761.  

A lot of things were foot operated in the past. My first car a Morris 8, had a foot operated headlight dip switch, that swivelled the light reflector!(dip & cut). Also it had trafficators (direction indicators) where the damn solenoid always stuck, and you had to thump the side of the car!

UK - USA

Hand brake - parking brake
Footbrake - service brake
Bonnet - hood
Boot - trunk
Hubcap - nave plate
Bumper - fender
Motorway - freeway
Saloon - sedan
Shooting brake - station wagon

Never heard of a nave plate. If you meant name plate, to me that's literally just what it says it is. Example: the name Consul in metal letters on the front of the car in Bernie's picture. A hub cap used to be a cover to hide the ugly lugs and their nuts on the wheels, but they have gotten smaller over the years and often no longer do so.

Fender refers to the sides of the car in front of and behind the doors. Bumper is the part that sticks out the most on the front and rear so that it will be the first thing to hit whatever you bump into. For many years, they were chrome, as in Bernie's picture.

Freeway, curiously, is not a universal term in the US. In the Chicago area, we have expressways instead (unless, of course, it's a tollway). We do watch enough TV to know what freeways are, though. Away from urban areas, a limited-access divided highway is often called an interstate (if it is one). Someone from another part of the country can comment on what a throughway is.
David
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Message 1556843 - Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 18:06:15 UTC

Speaking of hubcaps....LOL.

When I was a kid with my first car, I was known to drive it rather....robustly.
I kept losing the hubcaps on hard cornering and had to retrieve them from the ditch.
I finally just took them all off...which dismayed my father a bit. He took a great deal of pride in the upkeep and appearance of his vehicles.

He said "Son, it doesn't look nice with you driving around with your nuts exposed all the time..."
"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

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