Parking Stop

bofa

bofa

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We soon realized after getting our T4R home that it would barely fit in the garage... as in we have about 5" total clearance for the front and back (combined). I was pretty good at eyeballing it, but was still off sometimes, causing me to have to jump out, look, jump back in and finish parking (or need a spotter). My wife was having a harder time and refused to park it. Seeing as it's "technically her car (yeah right... muhahaha) I had to figure out a way that she could comfortably park it. We've done the tennis ball thing before and the little mats you throw on the floor, but I must have tossed them at some point because the ball was annoying and the mats slipped on our chalky floors (another issue to tackle another day)

So I thought I would be smart and decided to get one of those parking sensor thingies. It arrived, I installed it, set the sensor distance and testing it out. Epic fail. Even though the directions say you can program it within 1.5" of the sensor (I had about 2" after it was installed) the "stop" indicator comes on a good 8-10"s before I get to the spot I programmed. Not a precision device by any means... avoid

41SiKkzqa2L._SL500_AA300_.jpg


So, a slow day at work and I decided to use some extra materials I had around in the garage, and this is what I came up with. It's not perfect and I'm open to suggestions. For now, it gets the job done. Basically I pull in slowly, it stops me from creeping up, place it in park and the vehicle settles back a bit so the pressure is off the tires, and it's a perfect fit.
 

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Yep, BTDT. We had one a few years back when she was just learning to park the Xterra and it was eventually ripped out of the screw. Never replaced it since it always annoyed me when I was working on other projects in the garage.
 
you could just cut a piece of 2x4 to size and stop at that, why is that Americans love to over complicate simple things? Is that perfectionism or what? I use this
19530279.jpg
as my precision parking device- happened to be exact size
tennis ball works great too. my wife use tennis ball next to my truck.

I adore your wood working skills though...
 
Victor_inox said:
you could just cut a piece of 2x4 to size and stop at that, why is that Americans love to over complicate simple things? Is that perfectionism or what? I use this
19530279.jpg
as my precision parking device- happened to be exact size
tennis ball works great too. my wife use tennis ball next to my truck.

I adore your wood working skills though...
Click to expand...

It's wasn't over-complication per se - more of a trial and error.

I started with just the 1 x 8s you see as the base. The problem is they shift or can get moved when I do other stuff in the garage. So I decided to add a cross brace that would keep them at the width of the tires no matter if the shifted or I had to move them for some reason.

I did that a few times but noticed the .75 isn't thick enough to feel when driving over them with the stock tires and suspension. So I added the 2x2s.

Then I noticed that when my engine was idling higher on it's own (no acceleration on my part), the T4R would lurch a bit faster and would overcome the thickness of the 2x2 and board on it's own. Remember I only have a couple of inches for error before I whack something.So I added the 2x4s on top and that was enough to feel the stopping point, even with the engine idling a bit high.

Yeah, I know, not my prettiest woodworking project. :D

The ramps might work but if they were off even a few inches it would be another waste of $.
 
Victor_inox said:
Here isanother hi tech solution some might prefer to a piece of 2x4
dual-laser-parking-system.jpg
tennis ball principal
Click to expand...

Yeah, I might give those a shot. I wonder how well they work if the vehicle is not always parked in the same spot (maybe right/left a foot or so).
 
^ Agreed, plus our floor is chalky which acts like a dry lubricant. Can't wait to get it resurfaced or epoxied.
 
This works great for me & fairly cheap depending on where you get it.
yhst-78308730916216_2207_99453201


You could also barrow one from your local construction site. ;)
 
images.jpeg



Ahhhhh yes.

"Would you believe, the old convex mirror on the top of the back garage wall by the ceiling trick?"

That should do it. :lmao:
 

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Moistmaster said:
Sounds like a job for 1st Engineer? :D
Click to expand...

I just use a simple w316 laser beam thats activated with the garage door. As the vehicle breaks the beam at a preset location it sends a 4-20 ma signal to the anti lock braking system of the vehicle which closes the loop and locks the brakes, stopping the vehicle automatically 2" from the interior wall. When that didn't work, I used a cut 2X4.
 
1engineer said:
I just use a simple w316 laser beam thats activated with the garage door. As the vehicle breaks the beam at a preset location it sends a 4-20 ma signal to the anti lock braking system of the vehicle which closes the loop and locks the brakes, stopping the vehicle automatically 2" from the interior wall. When that didn't work, I used a cut 2X4.
Click to expand...

:thumb3: See he always comes through, I hear you can buy those w316 lasers on ebay.
 
You guys are waaaaay over thinking this, especially you know who.

In my case the front bumper and garage wall have a excellent working relation. In case of dispute the bumper usually wins. Although I must say that early on the wall put up a pretty good fight. :driving:
 
I just back into my parking stall. As soon as the radar starts beeping, I watch the camera until I'm about to kiss the snow tire stack.
 
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