Transmission Retarder vs Exhaust Brake

I had retarders on the Van Hool coaches I used to drive. They were 4 speed with 4 positions on the joystick. In pos. 1 you could use for 4 min, pos.2 for 3 min, down to 4 for only 1 min to prevent overheating. They worked great.

My 1994 Wanderlodge had two speed transmission retarder. Heat management was easy as there was a dash switch to turn the cooling fan to high. System worked okay.

FIRE UP wrote:

ScottG wrote:
As a local fire captain explained to me, retarders are only good for short bursts like a city bus or a fire engine uses. Trying to use it to hold you back coming down a mountain pass would make so much heat in the trans that it would burn up.

Well Gang,
I'd have to agree with this answer. You see, in 30 years with the FD, we heated up a quite a few trannies on some of our long down grades and, forced heated stops. Once the Jake (Engine compression brake) became more available, we opted for them so we'd have considerably less trouble with our trannies. Then, we given a new kind of retarder for a demo for a year for try out.

That new retarder, called a "Telma" retarder, is the best thing since sliced apples. It works with electro-magnetic energy and, there's no parts that ever touch, just like a mag-lev train.

Scott

I have a retarder and have come down all sorts of mountain passes without an overheating problem. Have been to Alaska and back, up and down the Rockies (Steamboat and Eishenhower) all through western Canada, Teton Pass with 10% grades and in the last week in southern Utah I've seen a lot of 8% - 14% downgrades without a problem with the retarder.

Bill

Thanks for the helpful replies, I'm lookin at a Foretravel with the transmission retarder.

Have to say that after having a 4000MHR Allison, makes me wonder what "Retarders" most are referring to, clearly not the Allison in a Foretravel.
Been using it for over 7 yrs, have not had any issues with over temps, of course I do not run down long steep mountains at 70-80 mh then dog it down to see how high the temp will go. Driving woth a little common sense seems to work fine.
Some idiots can destroy an anvil with a feather I have heard.
Dave M

I have been using a retarder for 13 years. No issues and it is one of the reasons I keep going with FT and am on my third. It is very strong and if you downshift ia bit before you run down the hill you can get all the way down and not touch the brakes. I have silver leaf and monitor my temps with that as it is very accurate and I have not had any issue at all. When you do have a retarder you get an extra cooler and it works, especially if you have a big coach. That Allison 4000 is a great transmission and it works very well. I have driven out the east entrance and down 14 and 14A out of Yellowstone with no issues. No heating issues or problems. If I get a bus conversion it will have a transmission retarder too.

Dave,
I had an 04 Foretravel with a transmission retarder and an 03 Country Coach with a jake break. I like the transmission retarder better than the jake brake. You have control of how much you want to break with the transmission retarder versus jake brake. The transmission retarder will spoil you.
Reese

Roadpilot wrote:
I've got a transmission retarder in my Prevost and it works great. I've had 2 position exhaust brakes in the past that we're tough to modulate on a long grade down. Either too much or to little braking. The Prevost has a 6 position retarder and It"s easy to find the right spot. They do incorporate a large tranny cooler. In short I prefer a well designed retarder.

really? never ever heard of a 2 stage exhaust brake? who makes those?
and never seen a exhaust brake in larger MH that has "too much"
usually there actually inadaquit in my opinion

I would agree with John I have owned four Foretravels and would not own a coach without a retarder. Yes it is a Allison on they build a huge cooling system to cover all the heat reduction necessary. After over 75000 miles with retarder you will not be disappointed.

While I have nothing against retarders, and I will take Brett Wolfe's word it is more powerful than a Jake brake (You can pretty much take Brett's knowledge to the bank!) our 3-position Jake brake is quite adequate. I have never been in a situation where I couldn't get sufficient braking with the Jake, including coming down one of the mountain passes out of Death Valley at 10 MPH with the Jake on high in first gear. That said, we will consider a Foretravel as a replacement for our coach, although Country Coach is still at the top of our list. We have a hard time finding a Foretravel floor plan we like. But we do like the factory proximity to our stick house!