"Hill Stopper" Clutch

Google: hillholder

"Bradley Walker" wrote in news:VjuGf.24131$ snipped-for-privacy@news02.roc.ny:

How many times do you have to be told 'mom knows best'

And my daughter's Forester (2004) has "hill holder" also!

I sincerely doubt that anyone would be selling parts for Subaru's hillholder

Google does work

Actually, Studebaker introduced it in the 50's IIRC. Subaru calls it the Hill Holder. My 86 GL wagon still works great. Taught my kids to drive sticks with it, and spoiled them. It's still my work beater, running as good as the day I bought it 20 years ago this month! Only oil it uses is what drips past the valve covers. Just like an old AMF hog.

Did have to replace it's hill holder valve about 3 years ago, small leak, but the junk yards had a nice one for 10 bucks. Great feature. Will only engage if grade is 3% or better. Over the years the cable has stretched, and need to tighten it a little every couple years.

Ah.......if they were only the car today they were back then, not a softened up SUV but a truly useful 4 wheel drive wagon. Best 8500 I ever spent on a vehicle. SIGH..........

Them was the days.

Back when my son had an '82 GL (his first car, sadly for it) the Haynes manual that covered it also covered other models that had hillholders, so I imagine it's been around a while.

Mike

Hi,

Yep, real technology, and when properly adjusted, it works so well you forget how spoiled it'll get you until you switch cars to one that doesn't have it! Don't know when it really got started, though. As another poster noted, Studebaker had it in the '50s, and I wished I could have taken my driver's test when I was 16 using my cousin's Golden Hawk that had it instead of Mom's car that didn't, but I've been led to believe it was an old idea even when Studebaker picked up on it.

Rick

I had a '50 Studebaker Commander that had it and I loved it. I don't understand why every manufacturer hasn't adopted the idea.

Don

Never new that one even existed! Does Subaru still put these on their cars to this day? I haven't seen anything in the owners manual about it.

Thanks!

Only Foresters made in Japan, I think.

Has it on MT Subaru's today. I think they reinvented it several years ago. It is not a clutch but, activated the brakes until the clutch is released or go peddle is pushed.

Ah, that's interesting. A few years ago I drove a rented Renault in the UK that had an emergency brake that would automatically release as you pulled away. There was a trick to timing the triggering of the release with the pedals because it took maybe a second to actually happen, though.

-- Mark

I was told by my dealer that the hill holder clutch was discontinued when they changed from a cable clutch to a hydraulic clutch.

Chris

"Chris Werner" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.supernews.com:

It is on my 2005 GX Imprezza Auto. Imported from Japan to Australia. Neville Brisbane

It's in Subaru literature.

OK, So I have a 2006 outback sport MT. How do I go about using this? When stopped on a steep hill, I've just been using the emergency brake with a combination of the clutch to get going and not roll back. If something is already on the car to prevent it from rolling back, I'd like to use that instead!

Thanks! Mike

We are getting ready to buy a 2006 Forester with manual transmission and the hill-holder clutch is listed as a feature. Our 1999 Legacy has it too, although it took a while for the dealer's service dept. to figure out that the loose cable was causing the rattling we heard when we first got the car. Before that we didn't know we had this feature, because it didn't work.

-Yngver

if it works like the one in my saab c900, you just stop at the hill, put it in first, keep the clutch pedal in and take your foot off the brake. with the clutch pedal in, the brakes will not release. then when you let out the clutch to start going it'll automatically release the brakes. my subaru doesn't have it, and other than my c900 i've never driven with one. personally, i hate it. but thats because i'm used to not having it. the problem is that if you have the clutch in and you press the brakes, they don't release until you let the clutch out. so simple things like purposely trying to coast or drift a little don't happen. for example: to back the car out of the garage. i just let the clutch out a little to get the car moving and then i coast backward with the clutch in. if i tap the brake a little to slow down, the brake will stay on until i let the clutch out. it's just not what i expect. i know i could easily get around this by putting the car in neutral and letting the clutch out (it'd be better for the throw out bearing anyway), but old habbits are very hard to break. luckily for me the hill holder in the c900 is wearing out (probably cable stretch) so it gets in the way less and less for me.

Hi,

If they haven't changed the design, you stop on a hill with the nose of the car headed upward. Apply the foot brake, depress the clutch all the way and hold it in. Then when you let off the foot brake, the car isn't supposed to move--there's a linkage between the clutch and brake system that keeps pressure in the brake lines.

When you're ready to start up again, the brake should be released as soon as the clutch pedal comes up a few millimeters. Properly adjusted, the hillholder should hold you on a hill with the nose up a few degrees, should NOT work on level or nose downhill positions, and should release the brake at about the same point the clutch starts to gain purchase so the car won't roll backward. To simply roll out of the driveway as another poster described, just let the clutch out a bit and the car should be able to roll on its own.

At least that's how the older ones work!

Rick