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
This has been an interesting brake discussion. The only thing that makes my 2001 CTD a 2001.5 is the addition of disc brakes on the rear axle. They are good enough, but after reading this thread, an addition of aftermarket exhaust/engine braking is in my future.
Coming north, down the grade toward Bakersfield on the Ridge Route on Hwy. 5 is 6% grade, the nominal maximum grade here in the west on interstates. It is just so long. It never fails that we intake an overwhelming smell of burning/scorching truck brakes coming down the grade. I hope that stuff is not asbestos. More than once we have seen truck brakes actually on fire! either still moving or on the side of the road. The first time I pulled my jeep on car trailer with TC (16,300 pounds CGVW) down that grade I was wishing I had aftermarket brake help. 6th was just too tall, so I downed to 5th. Still too tall, so I braked and pulled the stick down to 4th gear and the engine was still whirring at 2800 rpm at 35 mph. Even with a stick/diesel combo, there is not much engine braking with a modern factory diesel. Older diesels I've had had a lot more engine braking ability. Of course, they had 22:1 and 23:1 compression.
I too have been up the east side of Sonora Pass quite a few times. With just the 10,300 pound TC it is the only paved grade where I kept downshifting and had to run a couple miles in first gear. There were some steeper pitches. A time or two, the grade let up a little and i thought i could shift to 2nd, and tried, only to have the engine lug down and revert to 1st. That's humbling. The trans is a manual NV5600. We also came down that grade a few days later and NEVER got out of 1st gear and used the pump and release braking cycle.
Once at the summit, coming up the other side of State Hwy 108 (the Sonora Pass rd.) a long, loaded older class C was straining up the last few hundred feet to the top when, Ka-blooie, the trans let go and there was dark red fluid all over the place.
We have been up a lot of graded dirt roads where it got so steep I had to actually stop and put it into low range to keep motating. Telephone canyon from Bishop uphill to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine stand is one. You absolutely cannot do that one without 4WD. A 25 foot wide, rocky, graded road with lots of wheel spin ruts, and gullies. The condition of the road is a testament to those who have tried in 2WD and failed.
Another dirt road in B.C. down to the Grand Canyon of the Stikine had a sign announcing 26% grade for 5 miles (it was in km though). It was so sinuous, snaking down a set of short switchbacks that I think the curves helped in the braking, especially on dirt. Didn't seem that bad.
As for braking on steep roads, paved or not, it's your preparation, in terms of speed, aftermarket brake help, and gear choice that determines the outcome. If you get into it too fast, it is tough to pull back on the reins, once you are committed.
regards, as always, jefe
Coming north, down the grade toward Bakersfield on the Ridge Route on Hwy. 5 is 6% grade, the nominal maximum grade here in the west on interstates. It is just so long. It never fails that we intake an overwhelming smell of burning/scorching truck brakes coming down the grade. I hope that stuff is not asbestos. More than once we have seen truck brakes actually on fire! either still moving or on the side of the road. The first time I pulled my jeep on car trailer with TC (16,300 pounds CGVW) down that grade I was wishing I had aftermarket brake help. 6th was just too tall, so I downed to 5th. Still too tall, so I braked and pulled the stick down to 4th gear and the engine was still whirring at 2800 rpm at 35 mph. Even with a stick/diesel combo, there is not much engine braking with a modern factory diesel. Older diesels I've had had a lot more engine braking ability. Of course, they had 22:1 and 23:1 compression.
I too have been up the east side of Sonora Pass quite a few times. With just the 10,300 pound TC it is the only paved grade where I kept downshifting and had to run a couple miles in first gear. There were some steeper pitches. A time or two, the grade let up a little and i thought i could shift to 2nd, and tried, only to have the engine lug down and revert to 1st. That's humbling. The trans is a manual NV5600. We also came down that grade a few days later and NEVER got out of 1st gear and used the pump and release braking cycle.
Once at the summit, coming up the other side of State Hwy 108 (the Sonora Pass rd.) a long, loaded older class C was straining up the last few hundred feet to the top when, Ka-blooie, the trans let go and there was dark red fluid all over the place.
We have been up a lot of graded dirt roads where it got so steep I had to actually stop and put it into low range to keep motating. Telephone canyon from Bishop uphill to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine stand is one. You absolutely cannot do that one without 4WD. A 25 foot wide, rocky, graded road with lots of wheel spin ruts, and gullies. The condition of the road is a testament to those who have tried in 2WD and failed.
Another dirt road in B.C. down to the Grand Canyon of the Stikine had a sign announcing 26% grade for 5 miles (it was in km though). It was so sinuous, snaking down a set of short switchbacks that I think the curves helped in the braking, especially on dirt. Didn't seem that bad.
As for braking on steep roads, paved or not, it's your preparation, in terms of speed, aftermarket brake help, and gear choice that determines the outcome. If you get into it too fast, it is tough to pull back on the reins, once you are committed.
regards, as always, jefe
