Engine/exhaust brake question

I drove a 3 axle T300 with the 8.3 cummins 300hp with an exh brake and an allison 5sp. Hauled 5,000 gallons of diesel with it everyday for 5 years. Awesome little truck and that exh brake was its best feature.

 

im pretty sure he meant snub braking. No jakes and a truck that wont hold speed going down hill, snub braking is best way to keep brakes from smoking them down the hill.
Im trying to picture this guy going down hill stab braking though lol

 

i figured bro

 

That's a crazy situation you got going on with that truck. And dangerous.

How are you supposed to control a truck that as you go downhill the RPMs go up and it automatically shifts into a higher gear? I know that I really am a dinosaur, but situations like this prove that computers are the stupidity of mankind to put onto a truck.

In some way you've got to figure out how to put that truck in gear and have it stay in the gear you put it in. Maybe there's a new program for the ECM maybe there's a way to disconnect the computer from the transmission or something but that right there is the stupidest thing I ever heard in my life. You can't control that truck going down the hill.

And the thing is, even if you put an engine brake on it, the engine brake works best at high RPMs. But as soon as you start getting into the upper RPMs where it's really going to slow you down the truck is going to upshift.

Somehow they've got to figure a way that that truck will stay in the gear that you put it in or else they just need to retire it and use it as a local City truck.

That thing should be put out of service because it's every bit as dangerous as the truck that the brakes don't work right.

There are few things in life that I have as much hatred for as computers on trucks and this is exactly the reason why.

If that truck gets on the right downgrade it's going to kill somebody.

 

I had a automatic rockwell Meritor in the 2000 era. It was probably one of the first with FFE given to us for convience of wife fresh from school. It had manual mode and a paddle to shift up or down with in same. In manual I ran the hell out of it in mountain work one gear all the way down on the jacobs as much it will give me. No problems. Except one.

Because we were team, the manual stating we must shut off 30 minutes every 7 days to allow transmission to clear buffer was disregarded. After about a month it bricked just like a windows machine presenting you with a blue screen and bricking. Tow time. JIT cargo given to a solo with prayers.

The second time it did, the Veep came out. That's never good because if he sees its our fault we will not have a job. But he spotted laundry bag in the pax seat and a few other signs of a hard run rode hard put up wet situation, checked our logs found them to be endless without stopping for Her and I. He passed a edict to dispatch after tow number two is to on the 7th day, it's our time minimum of 12 hours with the TRUCK OFF. No more tows.

The transmission was also carefully mated to the big 515 (We think..) Detriot up front. Every time it's time to shift that thing Im reaching for the stick that isnt there, it shifts. Beautiful. Winter ice? It proved that it knew when we were in trouble with a tractor jacknife. It did one job. Maintain power to the drives no matter what so when we felt the tires bite and added a smidge of power to stop and get back in line the transmission was right there. I don't know if I could have done that with manual even though I have broken a few tractor jackknifes in my time with them.

Now to add to Dino soars post, I think about Autos that need a satellite to know when it's on a hill going up. Or down. To me that's the eptiome of engineered BS. Over engineer something and it's going to get me killed. Im sorry, Im old fashioned. They can have their toy. I wont drive it. It wont be the first refusal/quit.

 

Back in the day we had one rule. Run the hill the same gear you come up at.

Even if you had no jacobs you will find that if you are slow enough, your engine's pistons will hold it for a while anyhow.

Just a thought that if I had the jacobs going and it quit working at 30 on black mountain, it will be time to get on the brake and hold it. 5 miles down. (40 in NC) it's going to get hot but she will be at 30 which is already too fast.

 

When I was at UPS our early automated transmissions had PRNDH321 if you put it in H it would hold whatever gear it was in and they had level sensors in them to appropriately upshift/downshift on hills. The system was by no means perfect but it got the job done. I'm just surprised that it doesn't have a way to lock it in a gear. We have a auto international box truck at work, I'll look tomorrow night and see if it has anything to hold it in gear now because I'm curious. I think installing a exhaust brake is a great idea.