From: Spare the Tires and Brakes, Spoil the Chassis
Help With Braking
Several technologies exist to spare a truck's brakes by making the engine do much of the braking work.
A drive line retarder made by Telma, an Elk Grove Village, IL, subsidiary of The Valeo Group, slows the drive shaft so the transmission isn't driving the wheels as rapidly. "The retarder kicks in before the brakes do. You don't have to brake as hard because the drive line is doing all the work," explains Scott Edelbach, director of sales and marketing, refuse division, for McNeilus Companies Inc. "This provides a huge saving in tires and brakes for residential applications. A retarder doesn't heat up the brakes, and you're not skidding from stop to stop."
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An older technology, the Jacobs Engine Brake, restricts the engine's valve movement, limiting the rate at which it can discharge exhaust. Squeezing off the exhaust slows the crankshaft. Edelbach warns, however, that it works well only at 1,600 to 2,200 revolutions per minute, and most waste-collection trucks are operating below 1,500 revolutions per minute when they stop.
Mack Trucks Inc. has introduced a patented work brake. By pulling a single lever, the driver can put the transmission into neutral and park the chassis on its service brakes. When the brake is released, the transmission automatically engages.
November-December 2004
From: Spare the Tires and Brakes, Spoil the Chassis
Help With Braking
Several technologies exist to spare a truck's brakes by making the engine do much of the braking work.A drive line retarder made by Telma, an Elk Grove Village, IL, subsidiary of The Valeo Group, slows the drive shaft so the transmission isn't driving the wheels as rapidly. "The retarder kicks in before the brakes do. You don't have to brake as hard because the drive line is doing all the work," explains Scott Edelbach, director of sales and marketing, refuse division, for McNeilus Companies Inc. "This provides a huge saving in tires and brakes for residential applications. A retarder doesn't heat up the brakes, and you're not skidding from stop to stop."
An older technology, the Jacobs Engine Brake, restricts the engine's valve movement, limiting the rate at which it can discharge exhaust. Squeezing off the exhaust slows the crankshaft. Edelbach warns, however, that it works well only at 1,600 to 2,200 revolutions per minute, and most waste-collection trucks are operating below 1,500 revolutions per minute when they stop.
Mack Trucks Inc. has introduced a patented work brake. By pulling a single lever, the driver can put the transmission into neutral and park the chassis on its service brakes. When the brake is released, the transmission automatically engages.