Downshift or exhaust brake?
I was just thinking after reading a post about gas vs diesel trucks where somebody mentioned they liked diesel because of the exhaust brake. I've never had a diesel, always gas. If I come up to a long...
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Me Again wrote:4x4ord wrote:
When the throttle is backed off and the trailer is trying to push our truck down the grade our engine is acting as an engine brake even without an exhaust brake installed or turned on. It takes power to push air through and out the engine. If we down shift we speed the engine up thereby increasing the amount of air being pushed through the engine as well as increasing the pressure that the air is being pumped through at.
My experience with three RAM trucks all with exhaust brakes BTW, is the Cummins almost free wheels down a grade with the torque converter locked and exhaust brake NOT on. For some reason the V-8 diesels seem to create some grade braking without an exhaust brake, however that is not my experience with the I-6 Cummins.
This includes traveling(with 2001.5, DTT tranny and smart controller) in Western Mountains with a friend with a first year Duramax and similar 29' trailers. The first RAM a 93 with auto should NOT have had BANKS selling me an exhaust brake for a truck that did not have a torque converter that locked up. Shame on me AND them. Chris
Well with the 2001 Ram and PacBrake I always had the exhaust brake on, with or without load. With the new 2016 I do the same thing, get in start engine and put Exhaust brake on FULL. Now after reading the attached article feel even better about it.
Why VGT Turbo’s Fail—And How You Can Prevent It
