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'Little short of miraculous'

24th May 1974, Page 79
24th May 1974
Page 79
Page 79, 24th May 1974 — 'Little short of miraculous'
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

If I may for once write to you in a serious vein, I would like to comment on your article (CM May 3) on retarders. We hauled to Italy at 32 tons with Cummins-engined ERF 64 Cu 180 outfits and had much trouble with brake-lining consumption, not to mention the dreaded "fading" on mountain descents.

We fitted a Jacobs brake as illustrated in your article to one tractor as an experiment: the effects as far as braking were concerned were little short of miraculous, it being possible to descend the steepest of Alpine gradients with no use of the air-system whatever provided a low enough gear was engaged, and the saving in linings, off-road time, etc, were very impressive. On the debit side were an increase in oil consumption which nobody was ever able to explain, a shattering noise from the exhaust when the brake was engaged, and a set of instructions in a mysterious language which spoke of "de-energising the circuit' and so forth.

Had we continued to use the same type of unit abroad we should most certainly have fitted more, and I can recommend them whole-heartedly to any Cummins user who has to haul over long or steep gradients.

MICHAEL KEOGH, Priorycraft Ltd, Gt Yarmouth.

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