Wanderlodge Gurus - The Member Funded Wanderlodge Forum

Jerry's post about his first loaded trip reminded me to ask this question:

At what point does the retarder temp become a concern? What's the
magic number I need to keep it under to avoid problems? The red line
on my gauge is @ 330 so I stay well away from that, but Jerry's post
sounded like 260 was bad and that's always seemed
middle-of-the-gauge-ok to me.

-Ryan
'86 PT-40 8V92

Hi Ryan,

My Foretravel, with Allison 4060 six speed, has the same retarder. It is great to use. We are advised to never exceed 250 degrees. It seems there is different placements of the pick-up/sensor, in different applications. The placement seems to make quite a difference in temp readings.

Raymond Jordan

Foretravel

Maryland

In a message dated 5/18/2009 11:58:21 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, waynekotila@... writes:

Ryan; I was told by Allison that the tranny could handle going over 300 deg. F. for breif periods so when my tranny guage just passed up the 300 deg mark I would turn off the retarder and rely on the brakes tell it cooled back down thenI would turn the retarder back on. This worked great for years then one day my tranny failed on a trip and after an expensive towing and about another $8,000.00 I had a new rebuidt tranny. The mechanic that did it told me my tranny had been severly overheated andthat it lookedall burned up in side. I was the third owner of the coach and I have no idea how the prvious owners used the retarder but I followed whatthe Allison tech told me.After that experience I would not let the tranny tempget much over 250 deg.

Wayne

1985PT40

From: Ryan Wright gmail.com>
To: wanderlodgeforum yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 12:42:51 AM
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Max retarder temps?

Jerry's post about his first loaded trip reminded me to ask this question:

At what point does the retarder temp become a concern? What's the
magic number I need to keep it under to avoid problems? The red line
on my gauge is @ 330 so I stay well away from that, but Jerry's post
sounded like 260 was bad and that's always seemed
middle-of-the- gauge-ok to me.

-Ryan
'86 PT-40 8V92

A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!

Ryan,

My Blue Box book tells me not to exceed 320 degrees but most people believe that
to be too high. I error on the side of caution and keep the temp as low as
possible just in case.

Jerry
85 PT40

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Ryan Wright wrote:
>
> Jerry's post about his first loaded trip reminded me to ask this question:
>
> At what point does the retarder temp become a concern? What's the
> magic number I need to keep it under to avoid problems? The red line
> on my gauge is @ 330 so I stay well away from that, but Jerry's post
> sounded like 260 was bad and that's always seemed
> middle-of-the-gauge-ok to me.
>
> -Ryan
> '86 PT-40 8V92
>

Ryan; I was told by Allison that the tranny could handle going over 300 deg. F. for breif periods so when my tranny guage just passed up the 300 deg mark I would turn off the retarder and rely on the brakes tell it cooled back down thenI would turn the retarder back on. This worked great for years then one day my tranny failed on a trip and after an expensive towing and about another $8,000.00 I had a new rebuidt tranny. The mechanic that did it told me my tranny had been severly overheated andthat it lookedall burned up in side. I was the third owner of the coach and I have no idea how the prvious owners used the retarder but I followed whatthe Allison tech told me.After that experience I would not let the tranny tempget much over 250 deg.

Wayne

1985PT40

From: Ryan Wright
To: wanderlodgeforum
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 12:42:51 AM
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Max retarder temps?

Do you only have one gauge? The Allison Op manual says that you should not
exceed 270 at the sump, which is where the transmission gauge normally reads
from. 330 is the normal max for the retarder.

I have both gauges, and I can tell you that when the retarder is at 300 the
transmission is way, way lower than that.

Don Bradner
90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
My location: http://www.bbirdmaps.com/user2.cfm?user=1

On 5/18/2009 at 8:57 AM Wayne Kotila wrote:

>Ryan; I was told by Allison that the tranny could handle going over 300
>deg. F. for breif periods so when my tranny guage just passed up the 300
>deg mark I would turn off the retarder and rely on the brakes tell it
>cooled back down then I would turn the retarder back on. This worked great
>for years then one day my tranny failed on a trip and after an expensive
>towing and about another $8,000.00 I had a new rebuidt tranny. The
>mechanic that did it told me my tranny had been severly overheated
>and that it looked all burned up in side. I was the third owner of the
>coach and I have no idea how the prvious owners used the retarder but I
>followed what the Allison tech told me. After that experience I would not
>let the tranny temp get much over 250 deg.
>Wayne
>1985PT40

When I thought I had a tranny issue on a long trip last Christmas,(temp went to
230 degrees and the red warning light came on) I stopped and called Allison. The
tech came out and inspected my transmission. Nothing appeared to be wrong.
Turned out it was the fan alarmstat. Anyway the Allison man said use the
retarder judiciously, preferably on "enable" rather than "apply" and run the fan
on "manual override" as the temp increases. He said the tranny could go to 350
degrees, but he strongly advised against it.

Now, new alarmstat, judicious use of the retarder on enable only and the fan on
override and I very rarely go over 200 degrees. For what it is worth.

I have two gauges. My transmission gauge has never seen 230 under my
ownership. It creeps up there going up long grades and has been at
~225 a couple of times, but has never hit that 230 line.

Retarder temp is what I'm concerned about - that sucker goes up fast.
I've (very briefly) hit 300 a couple of times on long downhill grades.
I don't downshift the transmission going down grades - I've always
been able to manage just fine between the service brakes and the
retarder, with the retarder doing the bulk of the work.

Sounds like I'm doing OK, then. Smile

-Ryan
'86 PT-40 8V92

On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:40 PM, Don Bradner wrote:
>
> Do you only have one gauge? The Allison Op manual says that you should not
> exceed 270 at the sump, which is where the transmission gauge normally reads
> from. 330 is the normal max for the retarder.
>
> I have both gauges, and I can tell you that when the retarder is at 300 the
> transmission is way, way lower than that.
>
> Don Bradner
> 90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
> My location: http://www.bbirdmaps.com/user2.cfm?user=1
>

Temps is an old debate regulated first by regular oil. The 270 deg post is right but I run Schaefer synthetics in everything which in the tranny is god for 390 deg F. Unfortunately none of the seals will stand this temp for long but at least if you have an emergency retarder event, you will not burn your oil and have a sludge or varnish problem which will destroy the tranny. The Schaefer synthetic just laughs at these tempratures and keeps on running. Your only possible damage will be a seal or hose. Force the big fan to run and that will help keep your water temp down so that the big coffee can heat exchanger can work better. Your safety is first and if you burn your dinosaur squeezings, get it changed right away. Synthetics just need monitoring for leaks in the case or burned clutch plates shown by a suspended brown dust in
the oil. I have run this emerald green slime for 13 years in everything in the rig and have had tremendous success with it.
Gary

--- On Tue, 5/19/09, Ryan Wright wrote:

From: Ryan Wright
Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Max retarder temps?
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2009, 12:30 AM

I have two gauges. My transmission gauge has never seen 230 under my

ownership. It creeps up there going up long grades and has been at

~225 a couple of times, but has never hit that 230 line.

Retarder temp is what I'm concerned about - that sucker goes up fast.

I've (very briefly) hit 300 a couple of times on long downhill grades.

I don't downshift the transmission going down grades - I've always

been able to manage just fine between the service brakes and the

retarder, with the retarder doing the bulk of the work.

Sounds like I'm doing OK, then.

-Ryan

'86 PT-40 8V92

On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:40 PM, Don Bradner <bluethunder@ arcatapet. com> wrote:

>

> Do you only have one gauge? The Allison Op manual says that you should not

> exceed 270 at the sump, which is where the transmission gauge normally reads

> from. 330 is the normal max for the retarder.

>

> I have both gauges, and I can tell you that when the retarder is at 300 the

> transmission is way, way lower than that.

>

> Don Bradner

> 90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"

> My location: http://www.bbirdmaps. com/user2. cfm?user= 1

>

Wanderlodge Gurus - The Member Funded Wanderlodge Forum

Ryan Wright

RTJ49@...

jburgessx2

Wayne Kotila

Don Bradner

tommy.rountree

Ryan Wright

GARY MINKER