Engine as brakes down a mountain

My old 03 Dodge Cummins has the R48RE transmission and only has D-1-2 positions no tow haul or fly by wire stuff, is it safe to to keep it in 2nd to help slow down?

I remember trying it a few times and didn't notice much brakind just high rpms.

I do know they don't recommend exhaust brakes for my model.

What do I do?


Ron W.

Having driven my last coach deep into WV several times, I find that on the downhill side of the mountains 2nd gear worked well in controlling road speed. :B

Chandalen wrote:
I know im not the OP, but the comments (minus the Spelling Ninja) were helpful.

I was worried about high RPM when in tow/haul mode, and was just 'afraid to ask.'

Now with a 17 hour trip to Wisconsin with the fiver I'll be in tow/haul and see how it goes!!

No need to worry about high RPM's anymore. All engines are throttle by wire now days. This means your foot is no longer connected to the engine through a cable. It's now connected to a computer which is connected to the engine. The computer makes all the decisions now. The computer won't let the engine get over max RPM.

Ever wonder why there is no "red line" on tachs anymore? This is the reason why. They just are not needed anymore.

Unless you are on an extremely steep, windy road, braking is often no big deal. On interstates, a lot of campers generate a good bit of wind resistance. With our 27 ft TT I have to hold a little power on 5 and 6% grades with all the truck warning signs. Without the TT, I need brakes.

I know im not the OP, but the comments (minus the Spelling Ninja) were helpful.

I was worried about high RPM when in tow/haul mode, and was just 'afraid to ask.'

Now with a 17 hour trip to Wisconsin with the fiver I'll be in tow/haul and see how it goes!!

Our 2004 Class C on the F-450 chassis was awesome - we took it many places worthy of mountain goats ;-) As others have said, usually pushing the button on the end of the gear shift lever (putting it into Tow/Haul) was enough to have the engine do the vast majority of braking. At 6% or steeper grade, we'd go down a gear - and yes, the engine will howl, but seems none the worse for wear.

I almost never need to use our brakes and if so just a hit to slow a little and enjoy the drive. Always in tow mode when towing.

chevman

As a nothing but stick driver for decades I frequently use the M mode on long grades going up & down.

I don't let the engine scream away at 3000 rpm for any length of time. Much prefer to let speed build to 2500 brake to 1500 & repeat as needed giving brake pads a chance to cool.

KD4UPL wrote:
As for "riding" the trailer brakes, If you have a good momentum based controller it should be applying some brakes as long as you're decelerating. You can adjust how much with controls on the unit.
If you have a timer based control it won't be doing anything until you engage the TV service brakes.
I really don't think it would be necessary to ride the trailer brakes, they'll get hot too with long continuous use.

I don't know about the others, but my Prodigy wouldn't apply trailer brakes just because the engine was slowing down the rig. You had to depress the brake pedal before the controller would send any signal to the trailer brakes. Otherwise, it would apply trailer braking every time you let off the throttle.

As for "riding" the trailer brakes, If you have a good momentum based controller it should be applying some brakes as long as you're decelerating. You can adjust how much with controls on the unit.
If you have a timer based control it won't be doing anything until you engage the TV service brakes.
I really don't think it would be necessary to ride the trailer brakes, they'll get hot too with long continuous use.