Exhaust brake or transmission gears ?

[Cloud9]

Is it less wear & tear or better to use the exhaust brake or transmission gears to slow down on steep mountain roads going downhill. I have a 2500 HD with 6.7L Cummins diesel.

 

[chaosh1]

I use the Exhaust Brake on Auto and it really does a great job going down pretty steep hills with a 10k lb travel trailer. almost never have to even touch the brakes. The Exhaust brake also will downshift to maintain braking power so i see no need to even set a trans Gear for it. I turn on Tow mode, Drop max gear to 5th, set Exh brake to auto and roll out

 

[mtnrider]

Use the exhaust brake, that is what it is for.

.

 

[crash68]

Is it less wear & tear or better to use the exhaust brake or transmission gears to slow down on steep mountain roads going downhill. I have a 2500 HD with 6.7L Cummins diesel.

Use both, without the exhaust brake, downshifting doesn't do much good as diesels don't engine brake well without help. One should at always use the Auto exhaust brake setting to keep the actuator from sticking. Only time not to use the exhaust brake is on slippery road surfaces where unexpected braking could cause the vehicle to slide.
You'll also want set and use the cruise control to maintain the descent speed. The TCU and ECU will work together to maintain the speed set by controlling the amount of exhaust braking and downshifting. This will apply to either Auto or Full exhaust brake.

 

[JayLeonard]

As stated above, use the engine/exhaust brake, along with cruise control.
I like to page to the engine brake setting and see how much hp the truck is using for braking.

 

[chaosh1]

Use both, without the exhaust brake, downshifting doesn't do much good as diesels don't engine brake well without help. One should at always use the Auto exhaust brake setting to keep the actuator from sticking. Only time not to use the exhaust brake is on slippery road surfaces where unexpected braking could cause the vehicle to slide.
You'll also want set and use the cruise control to maintain the descent speed. The TCU and ECU will work together to maintain the speed set by controlling the amount of exhaust braking and downshifting. This will apply to either Auto or Full exhaust brake.

I don't know if its year specific but i never have to use cruise control for auto Exh brake to do what it does.. Am i missing something?

 

[JayLeonard]

I find that using cruise controls the speed tighter. Plus if I want to slow down a bit I can use the - button rather that hitting the brakes.

 

[crash68]

Am i missing something?

Nope, there's a lot of people that don't realize that cruise works to maintain speed in both directions in conjunction with exhaust braking (engine braking for gassers too) and transmission gears.
While your cresting the hill, set the cruise slightly slower than you want to go and then you can adjust with the Cruise +/- buttons. The exhaust brake and transmission will adjust as needed to hold you at speed.

 

[JayLeonard]

Just did a 4 mile decent today towing the 30 ft TT with many 9% grades. Then another close to 3 miles in the smoky mountain region. Both sections I only hit the truck brakes 2 or 3 times. I let the truck computer change gears and use the engine brake. Most of it at 30-35 mph and lots of 3rd gear ( 68 rfe). Easy peasy but I don’t think the cars behind me liked me too much. But never got the finger so all was good lol.
Love my Cummins

 

[Jbinramona]

Gotta use both!
Fulltime RVer, retired truck driver, ‘16 3500 dually 6.7 monster Cummins, 45’ toyhauler 5er…33,000lbs rolling down the road.
I use exhaust brake on full and manually shift gears cuz its what I’ve done for years and am extremely comfortable with it. There is a learning curve, but the more ya do it, the more comfortable you will be.

 

[Andersoncma]

Gotta use both!
Fulltime RVer, retired truck driver, ‘16 3500 dually 6.7 monster Cummins, 45’ toyhauler 5er…33,000lbs rolling down the road.
I use exhaust brake on full and manually shift gears cuz its what I’ve done for years and am extremely comfortable with it. There is a learning curve, but the more ya do it, the more comfortable you will be.

 

[Andersoncma]

I am an ex OTR driver, and although I wish I had the 6 speed manual hooked up to my Cummins which I don’t), I always use both the exhaust brake on my Fleece Cheetah turbo in combination with manually shifting my 68RFE automatic transmission. Typically have a 2000 lb slide in truck camper on my Ram2500, and using the exhaust brake in combination w manually shifting my 68RFE works AWESOME!……and have 215K miles on my 2011 Ram with no trans problems (but I did put an aux trans cooler on it years ago)

 

[ReddJackson]

I use both exhaust brake and cruise control…just got back to Cali from N. Dakota, traveled all through the Black Hills, mountain passes through Utah east of Salt Lake, and the Sierras…had to use the truck brakes rarely…the exhaust brakes do the job, and with the cruise got
as much as 12.6 mpg towing my camper at approx 6200 lbs give or take. Anyone getting better mpg, please tell me how.
One more thing I discovered…Semi’s passing I’ll give a quick couple blinks with my high beams that they can merge back into my lane…seems that American Truckers say thanks with a few blinks if their trailer lights, non American Truckers don’t…appears they don’t understand…I’ve been doing this since the mid 60’s… my Dad taught me this back in the mid 60’s when I started driving.

 

[JayLeonard]

Actually I usually get around 13.5 mpg. Today I just hand calculated I got 14 mpg but flat land driving from Atlanta south lots of secondary roads and I 75. One 15 minute parking lot situation. And I set my cruise at 60. TT is just under 7 k lbs.

 

[ReddJackson]

There it is, I set my cruise to 66/67 mph

 

[nlambert182]

I don't touch my cruise when I'm towing unless I'm on a pretty flat section of interstate. I don't particularly like the way it shifts. The TT in my sig is 9,800 lbs loaded. I've gotten as high as 14-14.6 mpg towing but that's locked at 65 mph and it's flat interstate with no stops over the course of about 300 miles. I'm also not completely stock.

Stock I was seeing ~13-13.5 mpg in the same conditions.

 

[ReddJackson]

Coming across Wyoming on I-80 lots of rises and declines (gradual) however the elevation ranges 6k to 7k feet…kinda weird being at that kind of elevation and not being in the mountains…I’m guessing the elevation affects fuel mileage as well