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Duramax Exhaust Brake


MystiikVLX

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It's pretty simple just turn it on while towing or going down mountain passes. Sometimes you only want it on while going down hills, so just click it off it isn't ideal. Towing with it over the mountains you will be blown away. 

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On 3/29/2021 at 11:55 AM, Cole2001 said:

It's pretty simple just turn it on while towing or going down mountain passes. Sometimes you only want it on while going down hills, so just click it off it isn't ideal. Towing with it over the mountains you will be blown away. 

 

On 3/29/2021 at 1:42 PM, jjackkrash said:

The exhaust brake is the bees knees when towing.  Just push the button.  

They also work great without a load in stop and go traffic. I rarely use the brakes. At least on my Ram 3500.
i use mine 75% of the time. 
I replaced my front brakes at 68k. And the rear just started squeaking at 89k. 😎😁Guess I better pick up some pads 

Edited by Sparky450
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4 hours ago, Sparky450 said:

 

They also work great without a load in stop and go traffic. I rarely use the brakes. At least on my Ram 3500.
i use mine 75% of the time. 
I replaced my front brakes at 68k. And the rear just started squeaking at 89k. 😎😁Guess I better pick up some pads 

Surprised your brakes went that fast. I’m at 93,000 on the original brakes. And my truck is pretty much a dedicated tow vehicle. 

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13 hours ago, RyanB said:

Surprised your brakes went that fast. I’m at 93,000 on the original brakes. And my truck is pretty much a dedicated tow vehicle. 

I do a Lot of heavy Rural towing. 25k+ And have a lead foot. My towing is mostly rural stop and go. 

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Duramax exhaust break isn’t even comparable to the ram.  My 6.7 was an awesome tow vehicle. The exhaust brake would literally almost stop the truck. My duramax now I can’t even really tell it’s on. 

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We had  a 18 dmax (wifes) and had to tow the boat with it. We normally use the ram, but it had been kicked in the ball joints. So we used the dmax. It was very impressive. Still like my ram better tho. 

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The exhaust brake on my 2020 GMC/Dmax will hold the speed steady down the passes towing a +/-20k lbs. fiver.  It is smooth, but I see that as a plus, not a minus.    

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Exhaust break seems to feel better when using the tow haul with it (likely due to the downshifting)  Also found it works best if you tap the break while coming up to a stop it will engage the exhaust break and slow the truck down and then press the breaks again to complete the stop. Love the Duramax, wish they would put the L5P in the Suburban. 

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On 3/31/2021 at 12:34 AM, RyanB said:

Surprised your brakes went that fast. I’m at 93,000 on the original brakes. And my truck is pretty much a dedicated tow vehicle. 

I am at 175,000 original front and rear brakes.  Leave exhaust brake in auto all the time. My truck is heavily loaded.   And tow weekly. Now tires, I have yet to get over 30,000 miles and have tried all the best.  Even tried the toyo ct which are commercial tread. Drive mostly slag rock gravel roads which kill any tire. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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41 minutes ago, spikew919 said:

I am at 175,000 original front and rear brakes.  Leave exhaust brake in auto all the time. My truck is heavily loaded.   And tow weekly. Now tires, I have yet to get over 30,000 miles and have tried all the best.  Even tried the toyo ct which are commercial tread. Drive mostly slag rock gravel roads which kill any tire. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I haven’t had much better luck on tires. My last set lasted 17,000 miles. Only good thing was Discount Tire gave me a tread wear warranty. 
 

Current tires are (I think) BFG. I’m at about 10,000 on them and they look better than anything I’ve run before. 
 

I always laugh at the guys that claim 60,000 or more miles on tires on a HD. That sure isn’t my experience. But they probably get 20 MPG towing 80 MPH with a 6” lift too......

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8 minutes ago, RyanB said:

I haven’t had much better luck on tires. My last set lasted 17,000 miles. Only good thing was Discount Tire gave me a tread wear warranty. 
 

Current tires are (I think) BFG. I’m at about 10,000 on them and they look better than anything I’ve run before. 
 

I always laugh at the guys that claim 60,000 or more miles on tires on a HD. That sure isn’t my experience. But they probably get 20 MPG towing 80 MPH with a 6” lift too......

Time for some super singles so that you can step up to semi tires ;)

Edited by oldjeep
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12 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

Time for some super singles so that you can step up to semi tires ;)

Lol. My truck rides bad enough solo. I certainly don’t need a stiffer side wall. 
 

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I have a '15 Silverado 2500HD with the LML engine, the exhaust brake has been awesome. The interesting thing that I discovered is that when the exhaust brake is enabled and you're using cruise control the truck will stay within 5 MPH (+/- 2.5 MPH) of the target speed. Without the exhaust brake the truck will pick up speed when going downhill and you have to manually correct. (at least on my truck)

The only part of the exhaust brake that gets a bit annoying is when I'm towing a load, going downhill, without cruise control, then I'll tap the brakes to slow down and the wastegate/exhaust brake kicks in and just keeps slowing me down. I have one downhill going home from the lake where this happens predictably. I'll either have to speed up to get the exhaust brake to turn off or reach over and press the upfitter switch twice (off, then on again) to get the exhaust brake to reset.

When I asked a few people about using the exhaust brake vs. disc brakes on a regular basis the generic answer I got was "exhaust brake are wear and tear on your engine, disc brakes are wear and tear on your brakes, nothing is free." It's just a preference on which of the two you'd rather use. The exhaust brake doesn't make much difference in daily driving/commute traffic, but is absolutely worth it when towing.

Just my .02

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1 hour ago, mikeo said:

The only part of the exhaust brake that gets a bit annoying is when I'm towing a load, going downhill, without cruise control, then I'll tap the brakes to slow down and the wastegate/exhaust brake kicks in and just keeps slowing me down. 

Ram has an auto mode. I think I’d what it is called.
As you crest a hill and start slowing down you tap your break at the speed you want and it will hold that speed. 

I think that is what it is called and how it works. I am pretty much a flat lander and rarely use the auto mode. 

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3 hours ago, spikew919 said:

I am at 175,000 original front and rear brakes.  Leave exhaust brake in auto all the time. My truck is heavily loaded.   And tow weekly. Now tires, I have yet to get over 30,000 miles and have tried all the best.  Even tried the toyo ct which are commercial tread. Drive mostly slag rock gravel roads which kill any tire. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I am the same on tires. I run Michelin. Lucky if I get 30k. But I will admit I don’t rotate regularly. 

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