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Going to Louisiana from Ohio.

June 03, 2020, 11:30:48 am

We have done several short trips with no mountaind. But we are going with and I know somewhere we are going down some long interstate declines.
How do I do the transmission again to save on my brakes.

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Re: Going to Louisiana from Ohio.

Reply #1 – June 03, 2020, 11:39:22 am

Best use of transmission/retarder:

Use the down arrow on the Allison shift pad to select a gear that will keep the engine near the high end of its RPM range.

Use the retarder to control speed.  WATCH TRANS TEMP.

If speed is increasing or transmission temp rising significantly, use the service brakes long and hard enough to slow down enough to drop to the next lower gear. 

Again higher engine RPM with less retarder will keep transmission temps cooler (less heat produced in the retarder AND engine water pump circulating more water through transmission cooler and radiator).

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Re: Going to Louisiana from Ohio.

Reply #2 – June 03, 2020, 12:09:47 pm

Roger.  Thanks

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Re: Going to Louisiana from Ohio.

Reply #3 – June 03, 2020, 11:56:47 pm

I just went on my first long trip and it's a learning curve for sure. Position 3 seemed best for really step grades, 2 for traffic, My tranny would shift down by itself in 3. Pretty cool unit. That and the auto level air bags were really impressive

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