Using the gears to slow

vwalan said:
give it a try .be light on the throttle when driving and slow down if you see a hold up etc in front of you .
only press the brakes if need be.
slow down at the top of down slopes and change down a gear etc
its amazing how many miles you can go and not press the brake pedal at all.
surprises me how many have to press the brakes to slow down if going up a hill and get caught behind others .
read the road look around anticipate a stop etc
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Where I live, the brakes on the vehicles tend to deteroriate through lack of use. I can drive home from the local town - 5 mile distance and it is very rare that the brake pedal is ever touch until hit the village speed limit sign.
I am trying to use the brakes more in fact to try and keep them clean :)
 
I know where the OP is coming from. Ive come down some pretty big hills in second gear with the van screaming like its going to burst but its never done any harm. Kicks out a load of black smoke that builds up when you finally get to use the throttle but thats probably because the original engine is out of a WW2 tank or something.

You basically have no choice anyway. These are commercial vehicles, designed to be thrashed and abused fully loaded up by white van man for hundreds of thousands of miles. The engines are probably the most indestructible part of the van.
 
RV2MAX said:
You should descend in a gear that doesnt cause the engine rpm to go into the red even with a slight application of the brakes now and then .

as for gears downshifting to slow no longer taught by car instructors. and with hgv its use of endurance systems IIRC
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Correct, stopped teaching that 40 years back when proper disc brakes came out, my instructor said much cheaper to fit pads than a gearbox, yes engage low when descending a steep hill and of on brakes to let cool, but the old change down to slow went out the windows long ago, remember the old cars had no brakes worth talking about.
Also hows shifting down in an auto box work, old habits die hard.
 
trevskoda said:
Correct, stopped teaching that 40 years back when proper disc brakes came out, my instructor said much cheaper to fit pads than a gearbox, yes engage low when descending a steep hill and of on brakes to let cool, but the old change down to slow went out the windows long ago, remember the old cars had no brakes worth talking about.
Also hows shifting down in an auto box work, old habits die hard.
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Easy to change down in an auto, move the stick, it'll either change down or it won't if going too fast.
 
No problems locking in lower gear on an autobox coming down steep hills. Used to worry me a bit not knowing what RPM the engine was doing so fitted a gauge.

Had the Kielder forest road all to myself last year, so was playing with low range descents. As there is nothing very steep, quickly got bored of 1st low :D
 
Some strain on the engine but nothing to be concerned about (y)

Thanks all
 
xsilvergs said:
Any police class 1 drivers here?
Gears to go, brakes to slow (as @wildebus said).
Use the same gear to go down the hill as you would use to go up, we got taught.
Gear for the speed.
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Trained by HMG light armored car.
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The thing you want to use is engine breaking to help slow, I don’t drive manual cars/vans but a few of the autos seem to detect hills and engage or hold a lower gear when going down with throttle off. On my motorcycle outfits I used downshifting to both steer and slow.
It really depends on circumstances on if it how much you need to use gears, better to think ahead and be in the right gear. If only doing an odd hill it won’t matter much, if doing a series of hairpins downhill you can still run out of brakes with discs all round.
Main thing is not overdressing the engine, work down gears using the breaks until you are under control, as previously said don’t risk red lining unless blowing the engine/gearbox is the only way to stop going over a cliff 😜🤪😳
 
I always use 3,000 rpm as my 'red line' and let the engine do the braking. If the rpm is edging towards 3,000 rpm I use the brakes a bit. That way I am neither stressing the engine OR the brakes.

Even in my cars I have to remember to use the brakes a bit more as the old school Mechanic who does my maintenance keeps telling me to. He says I need to drive it like I stole it occasionally, otherwise the discs will get pitted and fail the MOT.
 
Tookey said:
Some strain on the engine but nothing to be concerned about (y)

Thanks all
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On our 4wd vans, we need to use the engine braking on very long descents,as the braking system is about at its design limit with running near mgw all the time.
On long alpine passes, they will fade eventually if not treated carefully.
Also the reason to fit the best quality pads and discs you can.
Dave,
 
With anti lock brakes and all the other electronic trickery now found in all new cars, the taught way is not to use engine braking. Personally, I’m old school, the right gear for the right speed. Long descents taken easily using low gearing and brakes to correct speed.
I think with any of us who grew up with crap brakes, not using gear control feels wrong. Traffic is certainly much faster these days, all the safety gadgets and decent tyres have transformed driving safety.
 
Red Dwarf said:
With anti lock brakes and all the other electronic trickery now found in all new cars, the taught way is not to use engine braking. Personally, I’m old school, the right gear for the right speed. Long descents taken easily using low gearing and brakes to correct speed.
I think with any of us who grew up with crap brakes, not using gear control feels wrong. Traffic is certainly much faster these days, all the safety gadgets and decent tyres have transformed driving safety.
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I wonder what British driving instructor teaches on Alpine descents?
 
Surely the recommended methods are different for cars to motorhomes and goods vehicles though. I agree a modern car I wouldnt be bothered so much and would likely hare down a pass without a second thought but something with weight in it like a big fully loaded motorhome must be driven differently I would have thought. Is it not just physics. You have power to weight ratios so presumably you have brake power to weight ratio and I bet kg for kg my car has much more stopping power than my motorhome so much less likely to get brake fade in the car than the van. Probably. *



* I have no idea what I am talking about and just made all that up.
 
SquirrellCook said:
What! None of you have exhaust brakes or retarder‘s? ;)
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years ago i had a david brown tractor that had an extra pedal above the rear wheel brake pedals... connected to a butterfly valve in the exit of the exhaust manifold , virtually blocked the exhaust completely to slow the engine down. common practice now to use hydraulic brakes on the trailers cos its much easier to replace trailer brakes than the ones hidden in the tractors transmission.
 
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