Engine braking?

H

huskyrunnr

Advanced Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2012
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Do you folks engine brake? I managed to overheat my brakes and seize a caliper on my 2002 f350 w/ automatic transmission coming down from Indian Heaven Wilderness. There was a click and clack episode where they argued to just use the brakes since they are easier to fix than a drivetrain. I now feel that might be bs advice. Also, I should pulse the brakes more I guess.

was able to get home yesterday after pulling the tire and tapping out the guide pins and hosing them with wd-40. Still sticking a bit. The shop is replacing the calipers.

any advice from more savvy folks is appreciated. Am I on the right track here to avoid a repeat?
 
I definitely use engine braking. My truck is probably largely identical to yours: 02 F350 CC long bed SRW 7.3 diesel. On any steep descent, when overuse of the brakes is a possibility, I'll shift out of OD at the top of a grade and watch the speedo and tach closely. If need be, I'll pulse the brakes to reduce speed to where I can downshift into 2nd. Off-highway, and especially on steep shelf roads, I'll shift to low range at the top of a descent and just let her walk down the hill at fast idle rpm in whatever of the 3 speeds keeps me slow enough for roughness conditions. In low range, 1st gear is a medium speed walking pace. It's pretty amazing how much engine braking the 7.3 brings to the party--holding a 10,000 lb truck back on a steep trail with very little braking.

I recall the Click and Clack column on the subject in the newspaper. My recollection is that the writer argued in favor of downshifting all the way down through the gears in a manual transmission vehicle and in daily suburban/urban driving, saying it "saved his brakes". Part of the answer was "brake parts are a lot less expensive than clutch, drivetrain, and engine parts".

Foy
 
Hi all
Not sure if you diesel owners have the tow haul mode on your trucks. On my truck 6.2 gas, placing the transmission in tow haul mode provides engine braking on hill decent.

I did I read somewhere that using the breaks to knock of fall the speed and placing transmission in lower gear to keep speed down.
Russ
 
I always use the same method as Foy and Sage.
At the start of the downgrade is the best time to control your speed.
Most of the time pushing the button to disengage OD will slow me down
enough,if not shifting,down to 3rd works.

Mostly it's about not letting your speed get to high.
Carol Shelby used to say the engine is for power and the breaks are for breaking
but I don't buy that most of the time.

I miss Click and Clack.Most of their advise seemed OK.
Frank
 
2017 Ram Cummins. Engine brake coupled with Tow/Haul makes downhill much less stressful.
 
Always! Drive mountain roads daily, and always use tow/haul mode and downshift. 03 f250 take it out of od/ and downshift.
2016 with camper on 99% of the time, Tow/mode, engine brake same with the 2020, both newer trucks are diesels.
 
Awesome. Thanks everyone. Never thought about the overdrive button in addition to 1st or 2nd.
 
You didn't state what engine you have.

Gas engines have engine braking, I don't know of any reason you would not use it.....IF YOU MAKE SURE NOT TO OVER REV THE ENGINE.

Diesel Engines have minimal engine braking, unless you have an exhaust brake (Jake Brake), again do not over rev the engine.

Newer trucks have all sorts of interesting programing that use a combination of engine management and brake management to control speed going downhill.
 
Gasser here. Coming down from the cabin, loaded or not, I always drop a gear and cruise down the “hill”. Tow/haul if loaded, but typically I’m empty heading down. Interestingly, when driving up I can always smell hot brakes from those heading down and riding their binders. If I had a modern diesel you can bet I’d be using the OEM “jake brake”.
 
Sorry ‘bout that. It’s a 6.8L V10. Downshifting was always what I had learned coming up. I guess I got distracted trying to keep up with my buddy ahead of me in a smaller vehicle. Live and learn, and forget.

And Foy, I may very well have taken click and clack out of context. I didn’t remember it was about everyday city driving.
 
Having a diesel w/exhaust brake and manual trans I engine brake all the time.

When driving my Jeep on loose steep trails I find engine braking much more stable than having a wheel lock up with normal braking.

In all cases both systems must be used in conjunction wisely.
 
Machinebuilder said:
You didn't state what engine you have.

Gas engines have engine braking, I don't know of any reason you would not use it.....IF YOU MAKE SURE NOT TO OVER REV THE ENGINE.

Diesel Engines have minimal engine braking, unless you have an exhaust brake (Jake Brake), again do not over rev the engine.

Newer trucks have all sorts of interesting programing that use a combination of engine management and brake management to control speed going downhill.
Click to expand...
I don’t see/experience much difference between gas and Diesel engines when compression braking. What am I missing?
 
huskyrunnr said:
And Foy, I may very well have taken click and clack out of context. I didn’t remember it was about everyday city driving.
Click to expand...
The Click and Clack piece kinda stuck with me because pretty much all trucks I've had as daily drivers from 1973 until 2018 were gassers with manual transmissions, with the 4 years in which the F350 was my daily driver as the one big exception.. I had somewhat more regularly geared down to decelerate in combination with braking during daily driving with most of them until I read the piece. Then the light bulb popped on and I found myself in agreement with the logic, whether it's right or wrong. With the big diesel and its 4r100 automatic, I simply maintained the same MO--drive to preserve the transmission, not the brakes. Still, on steep or long descents--on or off highway--I'll punch it out of OD on the column shift which also disengages the "coast clutch" while keeping the torque converter in lock up mode. Such allows the same degree of engine braking to get to the drive wheels as would a manual transmission truck. As seldom as that comes up now that she's strictly a "play truck", I don't feel as though I'm hurting the engine one iota.

Foy
 
They didn't make an engine brake for my truck. Something about it not working with the auto tranny. Might be time to see if thats still true.
 
I learned with our '96 CTD auto (mp tow/haul mode option) that turning off the OD changes the trans programming. With the OD on lock-up only happens in OD. With it turned off lock-up happens as low as second gear. However, with Mopar trans you want to be especially careful in down-shifting. We got a nice long ride on a flatbed tow truck because of a broken band anchor due to a forced down-shift when an unexpectedly steep hill caught me off guard.

With no throttle plate diesels don't compression brake as well as gassers do. My old Rabbit diesel did basically no compression braking. The CTD is a bit better, but still not in league with some of the gassers that I've driven.
A true Jacobs Engine Brake interrupts the fuel injection and turns the engine into a large air compressor while holding the exhaust valves open.

The engine brakes sold for pick-up truck use don't work that way. They put a throttle plate in the exhaust just downstream of the turbo. For this to work w/o engine damage on a Cummins the exhaust valve springs need to be replaced with higher rate springs or the exhaust back-pressure with the throttle plate closed will 'blow' them open, right into the rising piston! This may be true for other engines as well, but I've no knowledge about that.

Pac Brake's applications: https://pacbrake.com/wp-content/uploads/PRXB-ApplicationGuide-PAC.pdf
 
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