I've got a Ford log truck with a 3208 cat & a road ranger 13 speed. I know these engines can't stand a lot of back pressure but would a exhaust brake help any on the life of the brakes or would it not help any considering I've got a 13 speed tranny. Just wondering
I've had a couple 3208's in truck cranes, weigh- 50,000 or so. I've never seen a exhaust brake on one. I don't know what you're grossing, but I don't think a exhaust brake is going to make as much difference, as good driving habits. We just downshift the cranes and let the gears do the work, if you crown a big hill rolling hard and are using the brakes to slow down, brake life its going to really suffer. We had brakes off of one of those 50,000lb cranes a year or so ago, they needed done, but that's the first shoes on it in over 10 years. The other one I've never put shoes on in 6 years of having it. Granted, we don't drive as much as the dump truck guys do, and we get paid by the hour, not the load .
There were a lot of 3208s in fire trucks in the 80s and in these hills engine braking was just about worthless. You could run them near governed speed downhill and all it seemed you got was fan noise, braking was not noticeable. Unless you went down the hill in 1st gear at 4 mph or something like that. With careful driving you would not set the brakes on fire but with a truck like this in the interest of getting to the destination on time I would not worry about lining life much either. Use heavy brakes on a short hill and take it real slow on a long hill to keep drum temperature manageable. I did not hate 3208s but I am not sorry they are gone either. I have never seen one with an exhaust brake either.
You are talking a two ring piston engine, they will take NO excess back pressure before they fail a ring or rings. The only exhaust brake I ever saw on one was a Blue Ox and it was broken/disconnected ON PURPOSE. The disc inside it had three 1 1/4" holes in it, damned near to no restriction but still popped exhaust gaskets on it before was disconnected.
Might be expensive, and maybe not even available, but a hydraulic retarder could be an option?
Electric disk retarder, goes on the driveline.
I agree, that is the best solution for an add-on in my opinion. They work way better than an exhaust brake ever would if you could get up the nerve to put it on a 3208. And they don't require an oil cooler. Other types of engines that came much later had the valve gear beefed way up to deal with the back pressure and had pretty good exhaust brakes but not this one I'm afraid.
Ok thanks for the input
It's a no go i guess. Sounds like I'm better off without it
Telma is the name. They can be a carrier mount in the middle of the drive shaft or mount to the axle. They have 4 stages, very simple and easy to work on if you know electrics. One down side to them is the slower you are going the less braking force you have. Conversely the faster you go the more braking force. Great for highway trucks, not so good for a lowboy in the steep parts of the woods.
One of the local fire departments had an L8000 with the 3208 and a Blue Ox like has been mentioned. I worked in construction with a lot of the members and we were all used to running Jakes on 10 wheelers. They all agreed the exhaust brake did next to nothing in slowing the truck down, they didn't order another one on any other truck purchases.
I used to run them on 8.3 Cummins that had the engines specifically built for them. They were not super impressive seat of the pants feeling but one day we had one broken and I took the same truck off a thousand foot 6% downgrade without it, thought I was being careful, but the brakes were definitely smelling when I got to the bottom. You had to keep them wound all the way up to governed speed to make them work effectively. It was also interesting to note the engine water temperature would rise very quickly when they were used, and the fan would often come on if you were going slow enough. Kind of funny to have the fan come on when no fuel was being burned. When the 8.3 got DPF and a VGT, they also got a real Jake brake which worked much better, especially at lower RPM.
I think the telma requires a alternator upgrade also, to pull the power for the magnets? And heat shields are required also, to keep them from cooking air lines. I don't think you'd want to take a hot one out in a tall grass field, or you'd have a grass fire in no time. I've seen them as optional on the big All- Terrain Cranes, coming out of europe. Those cranes typically have a transmission retard built in also, they are automatics, and I've heard the telma's are much better than the trans brake. The ones I've driven had trans brake, but no telma, and the trans brakes don't work because they generate too much heat in the trans fluid, you can't stay on the brake for more than about a 5-7 second count, then you better be back off of it.
The early model Allison brakes kind of cooked the fluid. More current models seemed to get a much bigger cooler and could really work. Having worked on them, I find it hard to imagine a Telma getting hot enough to start anything on fire. Seems like you would cook bearings and other stuff. But don't quote me on it. Just never really thought about it before. They do take a lot of power, but it is kind of a dance. You could let the batteries just handle it for a minute or two depending on how long the brake is on. Alternator upgrade is the kind of thing you could do later if actually required.