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bigorange's avatar
bigorange
Explorer
May 27, 2014

Rough exhaust brake on 2011 Ram 2500 CTD

Towing home from the mountains this weekend (awesome trip, but that's a different story :B ) and noticed that the exhaust brake on my 2011 Ram 2500 CTD seemed a little rough at times when it disengaged.

Specifically I noticed this in 5th gear (I think) at about 1750-2000 RPM when I hit the gas in expectation of a slight uphill or when I wanted to let it coast a little without the exhaust brake. Felt almost like a rough shift, but no change in gear. not consistent, but very noticeable when it happened.

Any thoughts or experienced this before?
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  • bigorange's avatar
    bigorange
    Explorer
    May 27, 2014
    Thanks. Cruise was not on at the time...I usually don't use the cruise in hills, especially downhill. I don't think the transmission was about to shift, but I may be wrong on that.
  • the_bear_II's avatar
    the_bear_II
    Explorer
    May 27, 2014
    There are times when my exhaust brake will get in the way of what I want to do. Feels similar to what you are describing. Happens often when the cruise control is engaged and the exhaust brake is on and I step on the throttle. Like when I'm coming to the bottom of a hill and want to get some speed up to go up the next hill. I found the best practice is to disengage the cruise control when in hilly sections and manually control the speed.

    The problem also happens when the cruise control is off and I step on the throttle about the same time the transmission is ready to change gears either up or down.
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    May 27, 2014
    Sounds more like a trans symptom, like perhaps the converter unlocking and locking again - but that should be barely noticeable. The EB itself doesn't do anything that would be considered "rough" or harsh.
    Was the cruise control engaged when this happened?

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