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Jeep rolled backwards while in park

E

erikcaso

Basic User
City
SD
State
CA
Hi. Happy to say my (new to me) '81 Scrambler was delivered today. Not quite so happy to report that when it was rolled back down the trailer, it was apparently in park. I noticed a clicking sound as it rolled and upon inspection realized it was in park. Once it was down, it was put in gear and seems to drive fine. I then parked it in my driveway and it seems fine - it won't roll down the incline on my driveway. However, I'm concerned that it rolling down the ramp (probably about 40 feet worth of rolling backwards while in park) might have tweaked the transmission somehow.

It has a 350 crate motor and automatic transmission, put in by the PO's friend when he owned it. Driving it around, seems the shifting is a bit jumpy to me, both up and down. Otherwise, she runs real strong.

Any thoughts or concerns based on what I described? I've only had it for a few hours, so I figured I'd go to my first source (the awesome folks here) to see if I should be concerned. Thanks.
 
Are you sure it was in park gear? Never heard of a trans allowing the wheels in to turn in park. I would be worried if it did. Absolutely use the parking brake as well for now till you figure it out. I would even put a chalk block under tire for now.
 
I wonder if the linkage/cable is slightly out of adjustment and at certain times doesn't have the trans fully in park. On automatics I heard that there is a pin that locks the trans when in park. If you break the pin she will roll. If it's out of adjustment I can picture the pin just barely being engaged and you hearing the clicking being the pin touching what it's suppose to be engaged into. Someone who works on auto trans could confirm this.
 
My dad had a new diesel Suburban(less than 200 miles)many years back that he left in park on a boat ramp. You guessed it. It popped out of park and in the river it went. It floated about 50 yards before it sank. We thought we had lost the little dog that was inside but as the truck sank he popped out from the back glass.
So yes they do jump out of park.
 
Thanks for the input, everyone. I'm not sure what transmission it has - the PO only knew that it was a 4 speed auto that came with the 350 TPI motor.

I'm about 100% positive it was in park.

It has 4-wheel disk brake upgrade, so there is not currently a parking brake. That said, it seems to be holding still when in park, even if on a slight incline (haven't tested it on a heavier incline).
 
For what it's worth.....

When i was a kid, I was driving a ford econoline van sneaking around and doing things I shouldn't have been doing. I turned down hill into a drive way and somehow managed to throw it into park while doing about 10 MPH. It made a loud ticking noise as you described, but after that incident, I never noticed any trouble. I drove that van for another 20,000 miles and never had any problems until the motor gave out.
 
DirtyB said:
For what it's worth.....

When i was a kid, I was driving a ford econoline van sneaking around and doing things I shouldn't have been doing. I turned down hill into a drive way and somehow managed to throw it into park while doing about 10 MPH. It made a loud ticking noise as you described, but after that incident, I never noticed any trouble. I drove that van for another 20,000 miles and never had any problems until the motor gave out.
Click to expand...

Yep, I've thrown an automatic in park while it's rolling and it ticked until it slammed to a halt. Never noticed any issues from it. Wonder if it wasn't quite all the way in park maybe?
 
I did that with a rent a car. 30 miles a hour and shifted it into park. Made click sounds then bam!! back seat Friends went into the front seat. Lol good old days

Sent from my SM-N910P
 
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