Pacbrake disappointing!

[kd5hge]

Installed a Pacbrake on my bosses '03 6 speed. With our fully loaded cement trailer (appx 33,000 lbs) the braking is hardly noticeable. With the trailer empty (appx 15,000 lbs) the brake is still less than we feel it should be. We are not worried about voiding the trucks warranty or the pacbrake warranty. Is there anyway to modify it to increase the backpressure created? Thanks in advance!

 

[nickleinonen]

what rpm was the engine turning when the brake was engaged? try it while turning 3,000+ rpm...

 

[timjones]

Nick He's running at near 40,000lbs. gross he's going to half to turn it about 6000 rpm to slow it down He should be happy the service brakes slow it down.

 

[RustyJC]

Originally posted by kd5hge

With our fully loaded cement trailer (appx 33,000 lbs) the braking is hardly noticeable.

Ummm..... yeah, I can understand that. Our Jacobs works just fine at a GCW of 21,180, but we only have a GCWR of 21,500 lbs. Guess I didn't realize just how much Dodge had upgraded the 3rd generation trucks!



Rusty

 

[kd5hge]

The trailer has electric over hydraulic brakes on it also. The boss man was just disappointed that his $900+ won't stop any better than that. Yes, we are pushing 40K and maybe over sometimes. I must say the '03 will pull the trailer with out any problems. We can keep up in traffic without even having to try hard. He just wants to be able to stop better.

 

[RustyJC]

A given exhaust brake under a defined set of conditions will produce a given parasitic (negative) BHP. This BHP will produce a given amount of negative acceleration (deceleration) for a given mass. If you double the mass, the deceleration will be cut in half.



Rusty

 

[nickleinonen]

Originally posted by timjones

Nick He's running at near 40,000lbs. gross he's going to half to turn it about 6000 rpm to slow it down He should be happy the service brakes slow it down.

i kinda missed that part of the post...

 

[Ron Bissett]

Lower speed use trailer brakes ,stay in fifth or lower and down shift with rev-up of motor . Keep back from other vehicles no matter what type of brake you have . Lol Ron Bissett in Metro Louisville KY

 

[SRadke]

That's why they use engine brakes instead of exhaust brakes with that kind of weight. I've towed as heavy as 28k and the brake works noticeably better down around 20k where the truck is rated to be.



-Scott

 

[Bertram65]

Hate to say it but if you know you cannot stop properly and you are towing about twice what the truck is rated for you are just asking for trouble. You may not be worried about warrantee but what about stopping in time in an emergency before you kill someone?

 

[jcarew]

My Pac-brake works great best accessory I ever put on my truck. My service brakes will live forever, but I only haul 13000 lbs

 

[Rockcrawler]

FWIW- I ran a US GEAR standard ex breake on my 01 for about 60k, towing about 12-13k and on my 03 for 30k towing about 8-10k.



I liked it fine, but I'm a dealer so I thought I'd see what was up with the US GEAR superduty ex brake.



So I installed one on my 03 and it makes a bunch of difference overe the std brake. What's unique about the SD is that rather than bleed off air with an orifice in the blade or a partially closed blade, they have a "bypass tunnel" in the casting with it's own smaller blade and wastegate. What this means is you build max pressure without buzzing the motor/downshifting etc and it makes use of the brake much more easy, works faster, over a broader rpm range and with less noise.



Check it out, very much exceeded my expectations.



I'm not going to say it would work acceptably for 40 k gross, but I'm betting it would be a lot more useful based on it's design and my experience with it.

 

[bpenrod]

Any links to the SD US Gear brake?

 

[DLeno]

I've been reading about BD claims for greater breaking HP at lower RPM. has anyone validated that this is real?

 

[Pat@BD]

At that weight he doesnt need an exhaust brake, he needs a freightliner :-laf It doesnt matter whos brake you are using at that weight you arent going to see a bunch of holdback. Cut the weight in half and they work great.

 

[icman95]

I drive Kenworth T-300 trucks with 8. 3 liter Cummins in them and we don't and legally can't load them as heavy as you are loading your Dodge. I'm not surprised that your exhaust brake isn't working as well as you thought it would. I am surprised that the rest of the truck still is.

 

[DHuffman]

Nothing like amateur truck drivers... maybe he'll only kill himself when he loses it

 

[DLeno]

Nothing like amateur truck drivers... maybe he'll only kill himself when he loses it

well since the thread is 4 years old, maybe he already has huh -- can't slow down 40,000 lbs with, what, something like 60 HP braking power? lol.

 

[icman95]

well since the thread is 4 years old, maybe he already has

Damn! That's the second time I've been fooled like that by a waaaayyy old thread. I'm really going to have to learn to look at the dates more often.

 

[KKaminski]

I like the idea of this guy telling his boss that they need to purchase a class 7 or 8 tractor. I don't want to be around when the driver can't stop and kills somebody.