Cheers guys. I’ll take on board the advice and when the white stuff falls again I’ll put it into practice. 
exhaust brakes can be useful most times and dangerous if not used correctly.why on earth did we change from a 3 air line connection to the european 2 air line system…at least we could control a jacknifed trailer as we had a seperate trailer brake…a much safer system…too much changing over to our european partners ideas…and taking us backwards instead of forwards…its probably cheaper to make this little island of ours change …rather than the rest of europe…even if it is not to our advantage…roll on the day when we can be independent again…and pull away from the e.u.
have a nice day
we could control a jacknifed trailer as we had a seperate trailer brake…
We could also save ourselves a fortune in brake relines on the tractor and let the trailer owners pay for brake relines. 
Oh just me then!!
All the Euro Trucks had seperate trailer brakes but as Bob had said someone in Brussels decided that we cant have them, The first position on a truck parking brake acts like a trailer brake but is not quite the same.
Another thing is that as many trucks have a retarder now rather than an exhaust brake although some still have both, If you look at the back of some spanish bulk tippers they have an electric retarder on the rear axles.
I still prefer the old system with air taps, you dont forget if you use them every day. or if they are automatic then we should use auto palm couplings like everyone else.
no not just you malc 
, when i was on castledines subbing for thompson jewitts we had f and g reg scanias with the trl brake, and tony castledine would make a point of telling you to wear tom+jerrys trls out not his units. i came down the blanc late one night in an fh with the exhauster blaring and the back stepped out, its not very nice and you soon learn not to do it again 
My B reg Scania 112 had a trailer brake, ALWAYS used “their” brakes to scrub off speed, then just the unit brakes to actually stop…but remember it doesn’t operate the brake lights, so if you have following traffic, needs a light touch on the service brake aswell.
i allways turn off my exhaust brake when im empty and its raining, bobtail and its raining, and bobtail when its not!
cheers
paul
I drove through France last week where it was snowing . One of the boys advised me not to use my exhaust brake in the snow as it could lock the wheels up. I was under the impresion the exhaust brake slowed the engine down and did not affect the main braking system 
. can anyone shed some light on the issus. Cheers!
It does slow the engine down, and that`s the problem. It can, under extreme circumstances, cause the drive axle tyres to slip on snow so its better to use the footbrake as this acts on all wheels.
Thats the advice which it gives in my manual, although my truck has a combined exhaust brake/retarder which is far more powerful, and Im not entirely sure that an exhaust brake alone would be sufficiently powerful to cause slippage.
Vince
What you have to remember is that the exhaust brake will only have a retarding effect on the drive axle and in snowy, icy or very wet conditions this can have an adverse effect on the braking of the vehicle with increased risk of jack knifing etc.
A company I used to drive for had all of their 100+ MAN tractive units fitted with a switch to disable the Retarder during the winter months. The reason being was because the Retarder stalk was easily knocked when steering or indicating which had caused the jack-knifing of one vehicle already that winter.
unless in a straight line at slow speed, beware.
Steve,
The first exhaust brake I had was on an F89 Volvo and it was the best thing since sliced bread. The previous driver had even connected it to a dashboard switch to save shoe leather. But beware, as has been said, they ■■■■■■ the drive axle, that’s the one that causes the jack knife if it locks and it can on very slippery surfaces. However, used with common sense it can be a boon, I used mine over the Blanc many times on snow, trick is gently to use the footbrake at the same time, that way all wheels are braking.
In those days though MANs actually had the exhaust brakes as engine stops! Lethal. Not only did it stop the wheels, when they did the engine stopped as well. No steering, no air, no hope.
They tell me that some trucks have retarders fitted to trailer axles. Now that seems a good idea.
Salut, David.
BondiTram:
Steve,In those days though MANs actually had the exhaust brakes as engine stops! Lethal. Not only did it stop the wheels, when they did the engine stopped as well. No steering, no air, no hope.
Salut, David.
…and that’s just exactly how my mates Volvo F88 came to go over the side of the Blanc in the 70’s…after he’d sold it!
Driver baled out, caught his hand/arm on the door handle & broke his arm. Was loaded with new tractors, apparantly they were down the bottom of the mountain for years.
My W plate Iveco used the engine break to stop the engine, though I never had it stall it when I was driving though.
“My W plate Iveco used the engine break to stop the engine, though I never had it stall it when I was driving though.”
Allikat,
No, that is because the road friction on the wheels keeps them rolling in spite of the brake and the wheels keep the engine turning, but on slippery surfaces where the wheels lose traction, they may stop and that can stop the engine.
For my money these days the engine (not exhaust) brake on the Volvos and the Telmas on the Magnums and others are excellent. Just wish we had them in the bad old days when on long steep descents it was prudent to stop for a while (if possible) to cool the linings. Before anybody says ‘use your gears’, we did, but you needed light or dab braking to stop the engine over revving.
Salut, David.
more on exhaust brakes here:
trucknetuk.com/bbsuk/Forum4/HTML/000977.html
Some of it might be a bit basic for some of you guys, it was in the Newbies forum, but some might be of interest.
Regards,
Jonathan.