New Truck/First Towing Experience

CAMPINGCPL · September 8, 2020

Greetings All. Wife and I bought a 32 foot travel trailer (6500lbs dry). Drove it off the lot with my 2017 Ram 2500 6.4L. Seemed fine. Take it for the initial camping trial and I thought the truck was going to explode. Transmission got goofy and went into limp mode. The thing was 600 miles over Powertrain Warranty, FCA told me to pound sand. My previous vehicles were GM and I had several issues fixed under warranty - some thounds of miles beyond. Went and test drove a 2020 Duramax LT Z71. Fell in love.....and it has leather and butt warmers so wife was happy too!

Took her out to Yellowstone and Teton for the holiday weekend. I am completely enamored by this machine. She surpassed all of my expectations. I could barely feel the 10 speed Allison shift. Coming back today throug all the passes and 50+mph wind gusts, she stayed on course. Set her on cruise control and off we went.

I am interested if anyone has any tips for the exhaust brake. I used to run Ford and Medium Duty Durmax ambulances and the exhaust brake seemed to kick in if the foot was off the accelerator for some amount of time. Tbis truck I had to tap the brakes just right for it to kick on. Any ideas or tips?

Happy to be back in the GM Family and live this Duramax!

TrailBoss1 · September 8, 2020

The last duramax I had was a 2016 but required manual activation by a switch on the bank of switches on the dashboard. If it’s the same, could you have been feeling tow haul mode downshift rather than the exhaust brake? Did you have the exhaust brake turned on (if it requires that as mine did)?

Colossus · September 9, 2020

I didn't have exhaust brakes on my 2 08s (I currently own an 08) or my 2013, but I've not heard much negative on these forums about the exhaust brakes. Glad you are enjoying your duramax!

hotairgypsy · September 9, 2020

my 15 had one and loved every bit of the exhaust brake....my 2020 has one to...i just turn on towing and the EB when i get the truck started and leave in on the whole time...The EB is quieter in the 2020 but could be tranny related

dab5577 · September 9, 2020

It’s impressive to see the truck work the transmission/exhaust brake on changing grade with cruise set. It can handle a lot of variation before you need to add driver adjustments. Of course you need to be in tow haul and have the exhaust brake engages.

My understanding on the exhaust brake kicking in when not in cruise, you do need to at a minimum softly apply the brake and it will kick in. Somebody correct me if I’m mistaken.

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Njmurvin · September 9, 2020

I've only been on one trip towing so far. I had a PacBrake on my 04.5 Dodge Ram and you could definitely tell when it was engaged simply by the sound. With this truck, coming down the mountain from Big Bear Lake, I put it in T/H and EB on and just drove. When I reached a descent that I thought required a little more braking, I just tapped the brake. Tapping the brake shifted down to a lower gear and the EB would hold in that gear. If I needed to slow down more, tap the brake again ... rinse, repeat. I thought about going into manual shifting to accomplish this without using the brake. But, this method worked so well for me that I just stayed with it. Coming from a 4 speed trans, this Allison is a DREAM!!!