Made a rookie mistake today

[ProHERO]

So this morning I noticed a clicking noise coming from outside in the back and I immediately thought it was a rock in the tire. When I got home my jaw dropped when I saw a screw in the tire. I decided to remove the tire, replace it with the spare and get it repaired at the tire shop. There’s not many level roads where I’m at so I reversed into the garage. My garage is level except for a small lip in the front that I couldn’t clear because the truck is too big. So I lifted the truck with the jack, got the tire off and as I went to put the spare on, the truck started rolling forward. The truck rolled about 10 feet by the time I got inside to get on the brake. I was in shock and pissed that this happened because on a regular basis I do my own preventative maintenance and I’ve removed and replaced my tires several dozens of times. As I thought about what happened, I know for a fact the car was in park but I didn’t have the parking brake on which I normally do and I didn’t have chocks in the front.

After thinking about this more, shouldn’t the transmission in Park have prevented the truck from rolling? I couldn’t have accidentally left it out of park as the shifter prevents leaving the vehicle in any gear. I verified this safety feature was working and I’ve never had an issue with the transmission. I even parked in reverse on a steeper hill and once placed in park it didn’t roll.

In the end, I learned a hard lesson. It could have been a lot worse. There was very little damage except to the metal plate behind the brake rotor which I bent back to shape. Although I say it was a rookie mistake, I should have double checked the parking brake was set and used the chocks. This was completely preventable. Please everyone stay safe out there!

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[Hog_Johnson]

If you jacked up the rear axle, being in park or setting the parking brake wouldn't stop it from rolling. You'd need to chock the front tires or at least engage 4H or 4L

 

[bfastr]

ouch.. that sucks. just be glad it didnt come down on a leg or foot.
this is a good reason to head to a harbor freight and buy several rubber wheel chocks. they are cheap.

 

[RcFlyer330]

The transmission is connected to the rear axle along with the parking brake as you take away the friction from the rear wheels by lifting its going to roll forward. now if you had the truck in 4wd then the front wheels would be connected to the transmission through the transfer case and having the trans in park should stop it from rolling but you should not trust it. when doing any sort of lifting on any vehicle the wheels should be chocked. I use two chocks one on each wheel i am not lifting on. i think there is a metal chock with emergency jack and tire change stuff in the truck that could have been used.

 

[carmigo]

So this morning I noticed a clicking noise coming from outside in the back and I immediately thought it was a rock in the tire. When I got home my jaw dropped when I saw a screw in the tire. I decided to remove the tire, replace it with the spare and get it repaired at the tire shop. There’s not many level roads where I’m at so I reversed into the garage. My garage is level except for a small lip in the front that I couldn’t clear because the truck is too big. So I lifted the truck with the jack, got the tire off and as I went to put the spare on, the truck started rolling forward. The truck rolled about 10 feet by the time I got inside to get on the brake. I was in shock and pissed that this happened because on a regular basis I do my own preventative maintenance and I’ve removed and replaced my tires several dozens of times. As I thought about what happened, I know for a fact the car was in park but I didn’t have the parking brake on which I normally do and I didn’t have chocks in the front.

After thinking about this more, shouldn’t the transmission in Park have prevented the truck from rolling? I couldn’t have accidentally left it out of park as the shifter prevents leaving the vehicle in any gear. I verified this safety feature was working and I’ve never had an issue with the transmission. I even parked in reverse on a steeper hill and once placed in park it didn’t roll.

In the end, I learned a hard lesson. It could have been a lot worse. There was very little damage except to the metal plate behind the brake rotor which I bent back to shape. Although I say it was a rookie mistake, I should have double checked the parking brake was set and used the chocks. This was completely preventable. Please everyone stay safe out there!

Phew, glad you're okay and your truck is too. While that's a hard lesson to learn, you're right, it could have been much worse.

 

[diambo4life]

Glad you're okay....and the truck! Could have been much much worse.

 

[parkerdog]

Not a rookie mistake. I've seen people at a job for many years do similar things. It just happens.

 

[ProHERO]

If you jacked up the rear axle, being in park or setting the parking brake wouldn't stop it from rolling. You'd need to chock the front tires or at least engage 4H or 4L

The transmission is connected to the rear axle along with the parking brake as you take away the friction from the rear wheels by lifting its going to roll forward. now if you had the truck in 4wd then the front wheels would be connected to the transmission through the transfer case and having the trans in park should stop it from rolling but you should not trust it. when doing any sort of lifting on any vehicle the wheels should be chocked. I use two chocks one on each wheel i am not lifting on. i think there is a metal chock with emergency jack and tire change stuff in the truck that could have been used.

I had one rear tire up and one down but I guess that one tire down wasn’t enough to overcome the forces of it rolling forward. Sad thing is I have chocks in the shelf behind where I was working on the truck. Like you said, I must have placed too much trust in the truck doing what I think it was supposed to do. I’m not aware of the metal chock. I have a jack, rods and a funnel. Maybe Ford deleted the metal chocks.

 

[ProHERO]

ouch.. that sucks. just be glad it didnt come down on a leg or foot.
this is a good reason to head to a harbor freight and buy several rubber wheel chocks. they are cheap.

I think my wife jinxed me. She was heading out the house and said maybe I should stay home in case something happened. I could have easily lost some fingers if I got around to placing the spare on.

 

[Uncorked]

Glad you shared this. I would have thought the parking brake would have engaged both the front and back brakes.

 

[FordPrefect]

Thanks for sharing this. I wonder if the rear diff just didn't lock up, so having it in park only gave you grabby-ness on the wheel that happened to be in the air at the time. Good insight and I'm glad it was not more costly.

 

[Je1279]

@ProHERO I would be lying if I said the same thing didn't happen to me back in my younger days. Im glad that you are ok and only your pride was damaged from this incident. Definitely use it as a learning experience to always practice safety when lifting a vehicle and hopefully, others will do the same as well.

 

[Big Dog Daddy]

Glad you and your truck are OK. Just a little hurt ego. If you have an AOD transfer case, you cannot trust that the front wheels will be locked when in park. I'm honestly not sure I would trust the transfer cases ability to hold the front wheels even if in 4H or 4L as you can confirm it's engagement status when off.

 

[Tomatoboy]

Parking pawl won’t hold the truck if the rear axle is lifted (unless you‘re in 4L or 4H, and even then it shouldn’t be relied upon), since the front wheels may not be engaged. Even lifting one wheel can do what happened to you because of the rear diff. It also doesn’t take a ton of force to overcome the pawl, so it shouldn’t be relied upon either. There are also situations the parking brake might not be enough. Chocks are your best friend.

Glad you shared this learning experience.

 

[Big Dog Daddy]

Glad you shared this. I would have thought the parking brake would have engaged both the front and back brakes.

The F150 has an electronic parking brake which mechanically locks the rear calipers only. The front wheels are free to rotate all of the times on the truck. On a 4 wheel drive it's possible that one or both front tires may be held thru the parking pawl or parking brake via. the drive train. Never trust this though unless you can confirm the front hubs are locked and the transfer case is engaged.

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