Big Truck - Big Hill - Engine Braking Aussie Style

It's also another reason why manual gear boxes are so very, very, good. In anything. Ideally slowng down mostly on the engine and gears anywhere, and then using the brakes for the last bit, is ideal, because slowing down or speeding up - your most or less always in the ideal gear to decelerate or accelerate... and your brakes take 100 x as long to wear out...... AND if you do find yourself about to head down a LONG steep road, especially towing some kind of significant load in a trailer without brakes, you can come at it slowly and in a low gear, before you go over the crest and into the down hill bit and just roll down the hill without using the throttle to power the engine - Your engine is just pumping oil and air and water and dumping the energy..... out the exhaust and radiator, instead of cooking your brakes... which can be lost through overheating.