floravistabob1

Have a 2005 5.9 Cummins 2500 4x4 four door long bed that I had built in 2005 for hauling a 12,000 pound fifth wheel. Pulls fine but had trouble slowing the truck/trailer on steep mountain roads. The truck has its own garage and 49,000 pretty easy miles.

Had a Pac-brake installed a couple years ago and thought that was the end of my braking problems. Worked good for a couple of trips then started working part time. Had both transmission and Pac-brake checked twice with reports that both are working correctly. Something is not right as I never know when topping out on a hill whether the brake is going to work on the down side or not.

Question: is this truck worth having a built transmission and other parts installed to make the Pac brake work or would I be better off selling the truck and buying an updated 2017 3500 with factory brake for towing?

ATS said that they could make it bullet proof for about 10 grand. I have no experience with adding mods to the truck except the Pac-brake.

Bob

Danderson

If you state your location more referrals might be out there.
I had a built 47re from DTT on my '98.5. The Pacbrake on it was very effective and finally helped the truck to stop with my camper load.

floravistabob1

I am located in northwest nm area. In the summers hang out in Silverton and Ouray Colorado area. Lots of pretty steep downgrades so need a good exhaust brake to slow the truck. If do keep the 2005 would hope the up grades would be enough to give me good control on downhill's.

Bob

saggonwaggon91

Good transmission upgrades are far cheaper than a new truck.

motrapper

That is not that much weight for your 2500. With good trailer brakes and your Truck setup good I would think you should not even need a pacbrake.
I think you just need a good mechanic to figure out what going on with your existing system.
Unless you are having problems with your trans it should be fine. Now there are a few much cheaper upgrades you can do to help it but no need of spending anywhere close to 10k.
Even if you would spend 10k on a trans you would still be way ahead of buying a 2017 at 55k to 80k for that difference and ease of maintenance on your 2005 it not even a question.
.Now mine is a G56 but tow 26k and total weight of 34k in the steep mountains of Utah with no pacbrake and have no problems at all stopping. Just paying attention to the traffic and being prepared.
the ticket is 4k lighter than the picture loaded

NJMurvin

I have a 2004.5 with 48RE and a Pacbrake and I tow a 12.5K fifth wheel. So, I'm pretty close to your configuration. I used to tow a 10K 5er and the slowing/braking was marginal on a long downgrades. When I bought the heavier Arctic Fox, I knew I was going to have to do something. So, I added the Pacbrake and frankly I don't know how I lived without it before.

I can only think of two things that might be causing inconsistency in the operation of your Pacbrake.

1) Transmission lockup - if your TC is not locking up, then the Pacbrake will not engage. On mine, the Pacbrake on/off switch has an LED on the end of it. If green, the TC is locked and the Pacbrake will engage when I let off the go pedal. If red, it will not.

2) Compressor - the Pacbrake actuator uses compressed air to manipulate the butterfly valve to create baking. If there is insufficient pressure in the compressor's tank, it will be unable to control the valve. The standard way to install the supplied compressor that comes with the Pacbrake is on top of the engine. I have read that this is prone to failure over time due to engine vibration. it's possible that your compressor is not operating fully or maybe a theres' a leak in the system somewhere preventing the tank from keeping enough pressure to operate the Pacbrake valve when needed.

Have you talked to Pacbrake about troubleshooting intermittent issues? I spoke with them when I first got mine and they were very helpful.

I, too, have pondered getting a new truck. But, the cost and emissions hardware have kept me from pulling the trigger. After 9 years with no truck payment and only 87K miles on the clock, I think I'll hang onto mine for a while longer.

motrapper

Great Post sir

floravistabob1

Thanks for the input from everyone.

From reading other forums it looks like the 2005 48re is the worst choice for adding an exhaust brake. I did not realize this when I had the brake installed a couple of years ago. Strange enough it worked pretty good for a bit and made a big difference on the down hills. Then the intermit operation started which didn't make it fun at all on steep down grades with lots of traffic. On the down hills its just like the transmission goes into overdrive and has no holding ability at all. This is with tow/haul on.

I have taken the truck to several diesel shops that also install Pac brakes and they all said they could not find any reason why it shouldn't work. Have had a couple of talks with Pac brake and they thought it was the transmission.

Had the transmission checked and they said everything is fine.
All of this led me to call ATS inquire about their rebuilt transmissions and other parts to up grade the braking ability. Would be fine if the upgrades will work, but a little spooked about paying for these items and them not working. What has been the experiences with ATS and their upgrades? I live about 400 miles from them so could make the trip without much trouble.

Thanks

Bob

Bob

NJMurvin

I seem to recall that the 2005 48RE had "unique" tow/haul behavior (at least different from mine and different from the 2006+ models). I thought that they had a flash for it to provide a true OD lockout when in T/H. Do you have that?
My Pacbrake operates either in OD or in T/H which is simply an OD lockout. The keys to its operation are RPM and torque converter lockup. If it is above about 1000rpm and the TC is locked up, it will engage. Did Pacbrake tell you they have problems with all 2005s? It seems odd that it worked well for a while for you. That suggests to me that something changed/broke and that it's not necessarily endemic to all 2005s. Do you have the LED on your Pacbrake toggle switch? If so, is it green and still not engaging on deceleration?

xcc_rider

I know squat about the 48 series tranny's but I know I wouldn't pay 10G's for a built tranny and unspecified upgrades if I could pay alot less to fix the problem.

I do know that you have a low mile truck that is infinitely more reliable than a new 2017. With all the 2017 known issues and hefty price tag I'd stay with the more simply designed 2005 and find/fix the issue.

It looks like you've got some good advice so far. I'd add Pacbrake air system leaks to the list as well as the actuator diaphram.

floravistabob1

I took the truck without trailer for another test spin today to check exhaust brake operation. The brake worked pretty good around town driving. On the highway with hills it would work about 80 percent of the time. I would drop it into 2nd have to play with the throttle to get everything just right for it to engage. With the trailer the engage percentage is about 50 percent.

After talking with my wife we have decided to sell this truck and look for a 1ton with factory exhaust brake. The future plans include a slightly larger fifth wheel and an overhead camper for an Alaskan trip while we are still able.

Hope to be able to sell this one for about 30,000 as we live in an area where everyone seems to have at least one truck. I will let the buyer know about my problems with the truck and include all parts to change back to stock if they want to.

Thanks for the advice,
Bob