dodge brakes
coming down a 25% grade dirt road the brakes started to smoke and fade.truck in low gear o/d locked out speed kept to 10 mph .we had to stop and let them cool at 1/2 way point ,dirt road 4 miles long...
Forum Discussion
CumminsDriver wrote:
The current automatics don't lock the torque converter in first gear, so an automatic truck with exhaust brake will not work at these low speeds. Of all the trucks I've owned with an exhaust brake (02 Dodge/Cummins 6 speed manual, 07 Dodge/Cummins 6 speed manual, and 09 Dodge/Cummins 6 speed auto), only the manual trans trucks exhaust brakes worked at that low of speed. The automatic when in second gear unlocks the torque converter between 15 and 20 mph when decelerating, which disables the exhaust brake. If the OP had 4 wheel drive, since he was on a dirt road, could have used Low Range 4x4 to help with the descent.
Rich
Interesting, though my Kodiak maybe outside of your reckoning. My Allison is the same as the ones on the pickups, but it is permanantly in tow/haul mode. But my exhaust brake operates to well below 15 or 20....if I had to guess it cuts out between 10 and 5MPH when I am stopping at a light. The exhaust brake addition is the single best modification I have done to my truck, bar NONE. I spent something like $2500 on replacing my entire brake system after about 70K miles, so I dropped an extra $1200 or something on the exhaust brake solely to save the wear on my service brakes. I have yet to go down a hill that my truck speeds up on when the e-brake is on. I have to keep flicking it on and off, or touch the gas pedal to kick it off. And keep in mind my truck weighs 19,000+ pounds (though admittedly it also has 5.14 gearing.) I have driven Golden to Buena Vista with only hitting my regular service brakes a couple of times.
Aftermarket brake options are probably out there, but I wouldn't do a single thing until after putting on the exhaust brake.
