Well I towed the same trailer today I owned when having my 04.5 and my 06.

One with stick and the 06 with auto I very suprised with the exhaust braking performance between the two. The auto basically stinks.

So what is the deal, is there an adjustment to make the auto 06 exhaust brake more better?

thanks in advance for any help?

And yes I was towing about 5k in tow mode..

 

It could be the holding power of the TC clutch....

There are several companies offering an aftermarket TC.

 

With a MT you get to choose what RPM to use with your E-Brake with higher RPM producing more retarding HP. The Auto does downshift, but I think it needs to downshift a little sooner to have higher RPMs while E-Braking. I will downshift the auto just to have better stopping power from my E-Brake.

So the thing to check next is whether the 04.5 E-Brakes differently at the same RPM as the 06.

Tony

 

Manuals by nature decelerate better than autos do unless you have a TC lockup switch installed. (I do on my '98)

 

DC re-engineered several aspects of the trans and ECM in the '06 models for the exhaust brake to work. THere was several items...but most notably....

1) Change from a thrust washer to a thrust bearing to handle reverse gear loadings...i.e. helical cut gears being driven by the truck instead of the engine will push the gears backwards on the shaft

2)Lockup the TC on decleration when the E-brake is selected. Cuts heat in the TC SIGNIFICANTLY.

Earlier years (like XLR8R's '98) need a manual TC lockup switch; otherwise the TC's cook trans fluid. You could also use a trans command type box. Banks, DTT, etc.

HTH

Tony

 

Gary,

I didn't think any exhaust brakes on a pre 06 auto would be installed without some type of lockup controller. Pacbrake uses the ATS commander or co-pilot. BD has their TowLoc and AutoLoc controllers.

What I meant was a comparison of retarding power at the same RPMs between the 04.5 and the 06. A difficult thing to check, since the speeds will be different. It would probably be easiest on the 06 to use OD lockout and get it up to 55 or 60 mph, then let off the accelerator to see how well the E-Brake does, and then try to pick the right gear on the 04.5 and a speed that matches the same RPM conditions as closely as possible.

To state that the exhaust brake on the MT works better is one thing, but to say the auto version sucks is something else. Mine works fine, and when I want more stopping power I just downshift. The programmed downshift points are a little too low in my mind, and I would like to reprogram them, but as it is, it works to hold back my 12K trailer on grades of 6% without touching the brake pedal.

Anyhoo, I would be interested in your comparison if you can get the RPMs close. I don't think there's anything wrong with your 06's E-Brake. I gotta think that they either work, or they don't, as long as there's vacuum and the actuator doesn't stick.

Tony