.................................................. ............

 

I'm kind of in the same boat when towing my 5th wheel.. It doesn't seem very effective at all for me either. After hearing some of other peoples experiences, it makes me wonder if I don't have some other issue.. possibly with my EBPV? I've even had times when it doesn't even seem to activate for me.

 

I dunno man, mine definitely activates because I can hear it. It helps somewhat, but I'm just not exactly losing speed like others report.

 

Well, I guess I'll put my 2 cents in. I have it and it does work. I use it every time I go to the mountains. My wife loves, my brakes love it. I am only towing around 9k, but coming down the steep grade on I 40 east of Asheville. I turn off overdrive and hit the Decel and like others, I have to switch it off or I will be going too slow for other traffic. I can come down Hwy 16 north of Wilkesboro and never use my brakes. I've never tried, but I believe it would all but stop my truck and load if I left it on long enough. If you tow, and plan on going down a hill, I highly recommend it.

 

I have to add something to this discussion with regards to my transmission. I DO have a BTS valve body and the commensurate tuning that goes with it. With that set-up, the TC stays locked down until 28mph, so even when I am not towing and using decel, the tranny drags the engine down when you are out of the accelerator pedal. I too usually hit the OD button when I use decel, that combined with the VB are more than adequate to slow the truck with the loads I pull. So maybe those that aren't experiencing that same thing don't have a VB and the tuning that goes with it.

 

I do have a question. I don't have the DP-Tuner or any other tuner other then the superchip, yet. I do have the manual TC lock up along with the EBPV/ brake. Is my set up not as safe as the DP decel tune? I get nurvous when using it in fear of tearing my tranny apart. What is the difference between the two? I know it works pretty good when coming down a hill either slowing me down or maintaning speed. Thanks for the input....

 

I've tried taking it out of OD too, but I noticed that my transmission temps climbed pretty quick. I'm just wondering if there's some kind of other issue since i'm not getting the same results as others.

 

Keith,did this vid for you today on my way home from work,slight downhill grade and sorry for the crappy video, took it from my phone.

YouTube - DP Tuner decel tune

 

That's pretty cool, thanks for the effort. Were you towing? Mine will do that if I'm empty, it's when I tow the camper or car hauler it doesn't seem to be as effective.

 

Keith, Mine is much more effective with overdrive off. If I can talk my wife into doing the video, I'll do the same with my camper in tow, coming down a steep hill.

 

I have my decel tune between the 60T and the 80T and i love it! It works well while pullng a trailer and empty. I use a it as much a i can and hope that jody can figure a what clay was after earlier in the thread. It works and is well worth the money! That is real world experience too!

 

It is my opinion that when using an exhaust brake, the driver should have to hold a switch while it is engaged. This is how the best compresson/exhaust brake setups are installed in big trucks. It allows the driver to "feather" the braking if full-on setting is too effective for the grade being descended. Jacobs sells a floor-mounted pedal/microswitch for just this purpose. An alternative for manual transmissions is a switch mounted on the gearshift. There is an aftermarket unit like this for Roadranger transmissions on big trucks.

I would want to see a tune that prevents having the exhaust brake engaged when it would be bad for any other system in the truck, especially the transmission. I would want the tune to make an audible tone for at least two seconds before it disengaged the exhaust brake to give me time to react and prepare for the reduction in braking. I don't like suprises!

If the exhaust brake was very effective, it would be nice to be able to vary it's setting on the fly. Many Jacobs brakes let you do this by selecting 2, 4, or 6 cylinders for braking, but I don't know much about big truck exhaust brakes. The ebpv is not effective enought that varying it's setting would be helpful.

Has anyone looked at eliminating the ebpv warm-up function, controlling the butterfly with the tuner, and changing to a larger butterfly that would create more back pressure?

 

a jake brake closes valves and holds them closed to slow you down..the EBPV or exhaust brake closes the exhaust...you only have one down pipe..there for you only have one setting...

 

That's right. I was asking if any exhaust brake design modulates the braking effect by closing the butterfly part way, instead of full-on/full-off.

 

It's as strong as an jake brake so it would be use less with different settings so an on off is perfact