6 position Jake brake?

[dan-fox]

I'm looking at a bus that is advertised as having an exhaust brake with 6 settings. Now I've never been near the front office of anything with an exhaust brake, but I've always thought that they were on-off sorts of things.



I asked, and he pointed me to one of the pictures, that had a vertical switch arm placarded with "OFF-1-2-3-4-5-6" on it. Could it be that this is actually an electric retarder and the guy is mistaken or inarticulate as to what he has?


Related topic: he says that he's "had it to 75 mph on the highway and it still had pedal left". It's a 96 Bluebird 40' RE, 8.3 I assume mechanical 6CTA, shifter looks like Allison 3000 series in the pics. What's redline on a 95 6CTA? Data plate says 5.38 rear. That pencils out to 2420 RPM. I think that either he's blowing smoke, or his engine soon will be.



Also he wants $8500 for it, and it has 241K. Even with air ride, a retarder, and belly storage, that's a lot of bucks for a midlife or older bus.

[Mark carr]

All the tractors ive ever drove the jakes and retarders were off 1-2-3 or off hi lo

[dan-fox]

Edit: Different picture, same area of the dash - apparent idiot light labeled "RETARDER", so that solves that.



Bus is also claimed to have air ride all round, but no pics. The seller makes his living on Ebay, so I have to assume "truthy" or "truth-like" rather than "truthful". No ding on him; it's just how it is.



I haven't yet started talking price; I have to argue the wife up before I argue the seller down.

[Iceni John]

Is that a Telma electro-magnetic retarder, or a transmission hydraulic retarder? Big difference. Telmas can be used for long periods without risk of anything overheating (except maybe the alternator if it's not big enough for the Telma windings' load), unlike transmission retarders that can fry a transmission very quickly if used unwisely.

Caveat emptor.

John

[EastCoastCB]

Sounds like a dreamy top of the line bus to me man.
OD with that rear end will definitely be good on the highway.

[dan-fox]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Sounds like a dreamy top of the line bus to me man.
OD with that rear end will definitely be good on the highway.

Like I said, he claims to have seen 75 mph on the highway, with space in between the pedal and the floor. That's in excess of 2400 RPM! I don't know what the factory redline is on a mechanical 6CTA, but it ain't that high! Worries me.



Also looks grungy. I can't tell if it just needs washed or if there's somethng going on with the paint job.



I agree that it's a really nice bus overall, but I'd have to bring it from the PNW to New England and that adds to the price.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by dan-fox

Like I said, he claims to have seen 75 mph on the highway, with space in between the pedal and the floor. That's in excess of 2400 RPM! I don't know what the factory redline is on a mechanical 6CTA, but it ain't that high! Worries me.



Also looks grungy. I can't tell if it just needs washed or if there's somethng going on with the paint job.



I agree that it's a really nice bus overall, but I'd have to bring it from the PNW to New England and that adds to the price.

Hmmmm pretty sure they redline at 2400.