Does Ford F450 have an engine brake?

[howell_jd]

It's not for climbing...it wouldn't do anything anyway as it controls speed from increasing and you'd slow down going uphill. The TOW/HAUL turns off the CRUISE CONTROL which would regulate (or attempt to anyway) downshifting on the ascent to maintain speed. Your engine would likely also turn off the CRUISE CONTROL during the ascent if the RPMs climbed into a predefined danger range. I know my 2005 will govern the engine at 4200 ahead of the 4500 redline (I haven't experienced it - but that's the program in the computer). The SpeedBrake would trigger the same engine response on descent I assume. I used the TOW/HAUL in Colorado/Utah last year and it was a great feature but didn't have the holdback power I really wanted. My truck weighs 16k lbs and even with TOW/HAUL it was accelerating up to 70 and beyond. It helped with braking of course and that's what it is designed to do - I just wanted a bit more "insurance" in stopping power.

Jonathan

 

[Capt Eddie]

My understanding of the tow mode is to keep in a lower gear, longer when going up hills. So I guess the Banks Speed brake computer program does not interfere with the up hill shifting?

 

[howell_jd]

I guess I misunderstood the question. You can still activate tow/haul independently of the SpeedBrake. When ascending if you needed the shifts to come later as a result of large loads you would activate tow/haul and you could still activate SpeedBrake - I guess you'd have to provide some separation between the max downhill speed and the ascent speed or the SpeedBrake might actually work against you potentially. I'll read the manual a little more closely. If your load is really that big then the tow/haul isn't going to work as well as the SpeedBrake to maintain braking power - it'll still provide some extra hold back...and if you've got trailer brakes you can activate them too (assuming they've been calibrated using the gain control). The tow/haul is a great feature as is the trailer brake controller. I just felt like I needed a bit more given the weight of my truck and trailer nearing GCVWR during my move from Kansas to Mississippi through Arkansas.

Jonathan

 

[Capt Eddie]

Thank you for all the information.