I have a 2005 F350 with a 6.9 International diesel which
hss a EB. Saying this I have over the years been able to
teach a number of people how to drive semi trucks over
the road. In the training I would take students off
differant passes thoughtout the country with out the
what is call a Jake Brake or as you have been calling
it a engine brake (EB). I did this to show them what
to do in case they ever lose the engine/jake brake
in the future. I can say you can take a vehicle
weighting 70 or 75,000 pounds off any pass thought-out
country with out a EB or what I call a Jake and be
safe about doing such. It's not about the EB, it's how
you do it, you start off very slow and only brake to
keep the speed down, the faster you go the more brake
you need and the hotter they get. So if you start off
at 45 or 50mph by the time you get a quarter way down
the hill your having to brake hard and thus heat up
the brakes very fast and by the time your over half
way down you are almost assured you have little if
no brake's at all. Now I have been talking about
70 to 75,000pd semi but the same applies to a rig
weighting 12, 13, 14, 15,000 or more, the rule of
thunb is you go down the mountain at the speed you
came up the mountain at. So if you peaked at the
top of the pass at 35mph you should be going down
the other side at the same speed not 15, 20mph
faster.
Do I like a EB, heck yes, do I use it all the time,
heck yes, do I like the smell of burning or hot
brakes heck NO ! and the screaming of the DW as we
rounding a corner going down a 6% grade at 60mph
thinking we are going to crash, not at all.
Saying this if you can go down a long steep grade
without a EB then more power to you, do I think
it's safe, heck no, thats why they put them into
engines so you can have a safe towing experance.