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Comment by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF | Hacker News Reader

Random aside, I set my automatic in neutral while setting the parking brake, to let it rock into place

On a manual it's the opposite. Put it in 1st gear, let it settle into place, only then parking brake.

1st will hold the car by itself if the parking brake slips.

That works until it doesn’t. When my poorly adjusted and full of mud parking brake finally failed The weight of my Jeep overcame engine compression and rolled the engine over while it was in first. It got going surprisingly fast until it smacked into a rock wall and flipped the Jeep on its side. This was in remote Uganda.

Video from immediately after it flipped over https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DChDTGIciNI

Shouldn't you put it in reverse on a forward incline, not 1st?

And turn the wheels such that even if it got going it would be stopped by terrain? That should be especially easy on unpaved African roads.

Reverse is troublesome, because if it does roll the engine over it will turn the engine backwards. While that shouldn’t cause damage, it’s still not great. I actually felt it doing so once while sitting in the drivers seat. I could feel it turning over one cylinder at a time , one every 5 seconds or so.

Using the terrain is my preferred option, but then I didn’t have that choice

I don't think there's any particular problem with rotating the engine in reverse while it's off, but on most manual transmissions that I'm aware of, first and reverse ratios are pretty similar, so likely not much to be gained.

> I don't think there's any particular problem with rotating the engine in reverse while it's off

I agree, in theory it should be fine.

Driving a lap around the African continent is not the place to test that theory.

I just looked it up, my Jeep has the NSG 370 6 speed box behind the old 3.8ltr V6.

1st is 4.46

Reverse is 4.06

Would it have helped to put it in second? If this the case. Why don’t we put the car in highest gear instead of first?

No actually, first gear low range 4x4 would be better - and that’s what I do now.

Think of how much effort it takes to pedal a bike from standstill in 1st gear vs the highest gear. The force required is the same if it’s being applied to the wheel and turning your legs (the engine)

You want the car to have the least leverage against the engine, not the most.

Oh I still have the engine running for this. The computer will bitch at me if I turn off the engine and it's not in P

for more braking action shift the demultiplicator into lowest setting, engage the reverse then block all differentials. no parking brake needed.

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