I have a 2008 Duramax DRW I tow my 5er (see signature below, about 15k loaded) to 8 NASCAR races (and a few TVA lakes) with and really need better braking.

I have taken the 2011 for a test drive and am very happy with the new (bigger) brakes (shoes, rotors, calipers and booster) and I played with the EB for 15 minutes and without a trailer I couldn't notice any impact. I know the EB is using the turbo vanes, not truely blocking the exhaust (like a semi).

The dealer is happy to let me take the truck for a day so that I can bring it home, pull out my big boat (see signature below, about 7k) on the bumper... not hook up the electric brakes and take it down some hills.... but first I wanted to hear what a few of you that have the truck say about what the EB brings to the table.

thanks

It works great!. It is proggressive, in that the more it is needed the harder it works.

I have a 2008 Duramax DRW I tow my 5er (see signature below, about 15k loaded) to 8 NASCAR races (and a few TVA lakes) with and really need better braking.

I have taken the 2011 for a test drive and am very happy with the new (bigger) brakes (shoes, rotors, calipers and booster) and I played with the EB for 15 minutes and without a trailer I couldn't notice any impact. I know the EB is using the turbo vanes, not truely blocking the exhaust (like a semi).

The dealer is happy to let me take the truck for a day so that I can bring it home, pull out my big boat (see signature below, about 7k) on the bumper... not hook up the electric brakes and take it down some hills.... but first I wanted to hear what a few of you that have the truck say about what the EB brings to the table.

thanks


Read the first post here........ But you could just add the Banks unit to your LMM.....

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=389294


:cool:

I tried it without a load on a real steep hill and it kind of felt like it was in tow haul but wasn't.I only have a 10,000# trailer,but I towed it about 450 miles this past weekend and I thought it worked great.I set the cruise control and it kept the speed I set it at,no matter how steep the hill.

Read the first post here........ But you could just add the Banks unit to your LMM.....




:cool:

Problem with this is you'd still be left with the relatively puny 12.8" discs on the pre-LMLs...a good buddy of mine I'm often on site with has an LMM and I've borrowed it a few times (GREAT truck in its own right btw) but two weeks back (I should start a thread with a report) I test drove an LML 3500 and boy did that thing feel stout and stable under braking

my advice to the OP is give the 2011 a thorough test with big weight behind it and down inclines, I noticed the EB helping slow me well without TH and with both the brakes barely have to be used...after a three years hiatus I'm very close to giving The General another go...if money's no issue the new rigs are hard to beat imho, though it will be tough to say g'bye to my current truck, which has proved v capable too

"If money was no issue" we would all have a new rig every year. Problem with buying a new rig is you then have add all the mods like bed coatings, hitches, tires, wheels and so on..... Heck the wife's new MINI Cooper is only a month old and already spent 3 grand on changes to it...... ;)

Wonder if after market even has wheels for the new bolt pattern. Although I do like the look of the new GM wheels.

One thing I learned on the LMM it will hold your speed back only when in both cruise control and T/H mode, just not to the extent that the LML EB will now.....

;)

"If money was no issue" we would all have a new rig every year. Problem with buying a new rig is you then have add all the mods like bed coatings, hitches, tires, wheels and so on..... Heck the wife's new MINI Cooper is only a month old and already spent 3 grand on changes to it...... ;)

Wonder if after market even has wheels for the new bolt pattern. Although I do like the look of the new GM wheels.

One thing I learned on the LMM it will hold your speed back only when in both cruise control and T/H mode, just not to the extent that the LML EB will now.....

;)

Man, I hear ya...I only usually add a 5th+GN receiver, LineX and Bilsteins and that's tiring/expensive enough...I'm always happy to keep a rig a few years and would keep them longer but they are constantly being improved:mad:

strange cruise has to be engaged on the banks LMM, haven't heard of that before...must say the addition of factory EBs (LML, Cummins 6.7) is a step forward, can never have too much control...

agreed on the new wheels, the 18s are the perfect size

btw those cooper's are nice cars, lots of that JCW add-ons can mean it gets expensive v fast

I love the Exhaust Break!!! Now my trailer is only 10,000 lbs, but it has worked awesome so far!! about 2000 towing miles and one trip from Pa to Maine with the Trailer........ I am impressed.

It works well, sometimes I don't think it engages well, like the dodge it seems to work good sometimes and not so good others, imho the dodge works better not to say I am not happy with this one it does work well, gonna haul a skid steer this evening, I will try to get some video of how well it slows with my iphone.

after pulling our 12-13,000 lb gooseneck I can say that I love that exhaust brake! You wont notice much unloaded but when you hook up to a trailer and have trailer tow mode on its amazing. I barely had to use the brakes, just lightly touch the pedal to let the truck I wanted to slow down and it handled the rest.

FWIW this was in east Texas, so its mostly flat out here, no experience towing in mountains.

I thank you all for the inputs.... I have had a couple of melt down stops with the LMM (heat cracked my rotors the first time going from 80 to 0 when a guy cut between me and a semi then lost it right in front of me, no one hit anything but it was a real wake up).

I think I will take it for the long drive and hook my boat up and feel it in action.

Is a four pound robin fat? Yes it works great. Our fifth wheel trailer is about 15 K and I came down a 5 and 6 percent grade last week and never had to touch the brakes. I was wowed. No more white knuckle trips for this guy.

I think you still need to have the trailer pluggedin to get the full potential of the EB. I always set my EB while towing my TT#9000, but once I did forget to plug it in and the EB was definetly less effective. The DIC knows when a trailer is connected or not maybe it matters to the programming for the EB?

I can offer some input on the exhaust brake, it works VERY Well! I just got back from a 900 mile trip over several mountains here in MT. Going out I was pulling an empty 7,500lb gooseneck, cruise set at 70mph, the speed never went above 72mph. The brake was varying the back pressure from 5psi to 10psi on my boost gauge. On the way home I had 14,000lbs on that trailer so my total gross was 29-30k lbs. Cruise set on 65mph, speed never went above 70mph. Back pressure got as high as 17psi. I had the tranny in manual 5th gear which doesn't allow the cruise to down shift the tranny as aggressively when going down hills. If I had left it in regular auto mode, my speed wouldn't have even reached 70mph. Once it did hit that high, I put the tranny back in D and it immediately downshifted, revved the motor up to 4k and the speed dropped dramatically.
The hills varied from 5 - 7%.
The brake works MUCH better than the brake in my '10 Dodge. This one is more linear which I can verify by watching the back pressure change. The Dodge felt more of an On/Off. I've pulled the same loads over the same hills and the Denali definitely holds the load back better.

Here is a video I took, obviously it is amateur video. Next time I will just stay quiet! The grade is 5 to 6 percent on a farm road so forgive the bumps highway sees a lot of oil field traffic and is not very well maintained. I have video of the decent and the climb had a shift at the end but you can see when it hits fourth it picks up speed quick. If I would have gone to fourth I am sure I could have slowed the load down more as I did the night before. The load is a John Deere Skid Steer with an auger and forks on the trailer. Hope it helps.

Not the prettiest of trailers I own but it gets the job done.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6dsyIL0BzY

the exhaust brake work great
600 miles with my fifth wheel 26,000 LBS combined down to Hershey Pa.
If you us cruise the truck will stay at set speed never need the brakes at all.
When the cruise is off as sone as you touch the brake the exhaust brake comes on and starts to slow you down, If you steep on the brakes one more time the eaxaust brake will activate more braking power very nice set up.
taking an off ramp that is down hill the exhaust brake works very hard to help you stop.
The truck is also Rock solid.
There were 30+ MPH winds never bothered the truck or trailer one finger driving. Very relaxed driving