Exhaust Brake Question.

[BSwope]

I plan to get an exhaust brake and want to know witch ones u guys are usein? And is a Prodogy brake controller a good choice? I will be towin a 30' 5th wheel camper.

 

[CCahill]

I put a BD on mine... ebay at $650... . use it often, loaded and unloaded... . love the sound it makes, and slows the truck down plenty... you'll need a TC lock up with an Auto trans...

 

[JRMora]

I plan to get an exhaust brake and want to know witch ones u guys are usein? And is a Prodogy brake controller a good choice? I will be towin a 30' 5th wheel camper.

I have a 36' fifth wheel and use a Prodigy controller.



I bought a Pacbrake PRXB and love it. Bought it through TDR member Jelag. You can view the brake at Pac's website www.pacbrake.com



With a manual transmission, there are lots of choices for you. I highly recommend an exhaust brake if you tow heavy or if you tow in the mountains any. It's good piece of mind.



Juan

 

[Big Mike]

I tow a 33 foot Fifth wheel with a Pacbrake PRXB(also bought from Jelag) and a Prodigy controller, great setup. I would not tow without an exhaust brake after having one, and the Prodigy is the best brake controller I've had so far.



Hope this helps,

Mike

 

[Foil Freak 1211]

I have a Jacobs and Prodigy that I had installed within about a week of delivery of my truck. I love them both. I just got back from vacation. Pulled through the mountains of Colorado - Rabbit Ears Pass and Eisenhouer. I think both are in the neighborhood of 7% grade, and at least 7 miles long. I tow around 16k. Put the Jake on, drop down to fourth, and I don't have to touch the factor brakes at all!

 

[MFrenchek]

Ryan's right on. Fourth gear and never hit the brakes. I've had my Pacbrake on for 8 years now and never had a problem. It is one of the reasons I got over 70k miles on my factory front brake pads. The inspection mechanic finally said they had to be changed out not because of wear, but because the backing plates were way too rusty . I had met one RV'er traveling who had trouble with his BD unit sticking in the active mode and would have to shut down and let it cool down so that it would open. I've used a Drawtite Activator 2 for the same period without any problems. I'm sure after 8 years there have been some added features to these.

 

[DLane]

I tow 60,000 + miles a year. Have every year for the last 18 years so when I agree with the the comments above that the prodigy controller is the best I have used it's in no way a light recommendation. I personally went with the Jacobs on my newest truck because at the time they where the only one recommended by Cummins, not sure if thats the case or not at this time. I will also add that at this time, with 59,000 miles on it, it has been the most maintenance free and reliable... .





David

 

[RustyJC]

Brake controllers:



1. Brakesmart - the best, but priced accordingly.



2. Jordan Ultima 2020 - a close second to the Brakesmart, but competitively priced.



3. Inertial or ramped time-base controllers - don't waste your time or money.





Rusty

 

[rluft]

I put a BD on mine... ebay at $650... . use it often, loaded and unloaded... . love the sound it makes, and slows the truck down plenty... you'll need a TC lock up with an Auto trans...

Ditto! BD off of ebay with a BD controller.

 

[BSwope]

Thanks for the replys fellas! Are the brakes hard to put on? And will the Prodogy work with the wire harness that came with my 06?

 

[RMachida]

Thanks for the replys fellas! Are the brakes hard to put on? And will the Prodogy work with the wire harness that came with my 06?

I installed my Pacbrake in about 3 hours the key being removing both wheelwell liners and wheels for easy access. The factory brake controller harness is a connector with a couple of wires that you solder/crimp to the leads from your brake controller. It took way longer to find a place to install my Prodigy than actually installing it.

 

[JRMora]

I'll second that it was way easier with the wheel well liners pulled out. When you put the exhaust clamps back on, make sure you can get to the bolts with the liners in. I didn't, and when it came time to retorque them (you should do this) I had to pull the wheel well liner back out.



Oops!



I hate it when that happens!

 

[troll3193]

Thanks for the replys fellas! Are the brakes hard to put on? And will the Prodogy work with the wire harness that came with my 06?

For the prodigy, don't use the Dodge harness that came with the truck. Prodigy has a Dodge specific cable. One end plugs in under the dash by the emergency brake, the other into the back of the prodigy controller. .



Got two tow vehicles, buy two cables and one brake controller...



Bryan

 

[GWBourne]

i wouldnt trade my jake in for anything. the one thing i dont like about it is the vacume pump is a bit loud. its not suck a big deal to me though. i know for a fact if i was inclined to do so i could easily build a muffler for it. i like the face that it is covered by DC as well.



as for brake controllers i love my brake smart. i have been thinking about calling them up to see what they can do since i have an older version and would like to use the air bag controller that the new one has.



again, if it was such a big deal i would have called them by now to see what it would cost me. zero problems with both products.



Grant

 

[JSchooley]

I have used BD on my 01 with manual. Easy installation, very reliable and very effective.



I tried installing PacBrake on my 05 auto. The fit was too close for my comfort and had to purchase a number of additional items for the auto. The price was going up, the factory didn't have answers for some of my questions and I was concerned about rattles and wear down the road.



I installed BD with the torquelock. It is fast acting and the installation was easy. With the manual you won't have to deal with the torquelock.



John

 

[desertbull]

ATS Diesel installed PACBRAKE... works like a charm.



I've just returned to the concrete jungle in So Cal after a 40-day journey throughout the US for 5 racing events. We're toting a 40' triple axle loaded with an off road race truck inside, spare trans, spare motors etc... toting with my Desert Limo. Total mileage upon arriving home was 8,000 miles. We were back and forth over the top of the Rockies down the mountain from Flagstaff to Phoenix in the middle of the night.



ATS Diesel installed the PACBRAKE and I couldn't be happier. My 21-year old daughter towed down from the top of Eisenhower and the PACBRAKE was the stuff... never a worry as I was in the right seat.



We're headed back in 3 weeks for the late summer off road tour---same thing and wouldn't change anything.

 

[dcochran]

I put a BD on mine... ebay at $650... . use it often, loaded and unloaded... . love the sound it makes, and slows the truck down plenty... you'll need a TC lock up with an Auto trans...

You won't need any "after market" TC lock up with an 06 auto as it's approved for an exhaust brake and locks up when it's supposed to. My Jacobs and Prodigy work great.

 

[CUMMINZ]

Just installed Jake Brake

Photos on my 2006 RAM site in signature.



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[rubberneck]

as for brake controllers i love my brake smart. i have been thinking about calling them up to see what they can do since i have an older version and would like to use the air bag controller that the new one has.

Good luck with that. First off, let me say I absolutely love my brakesmart. And after driving mine i have installed at least 7 for friends and family. You simply dont know how trailer brakes should work until you use a brakesmart. For everybody who says they are too expensive, an accident will cost you way more money, and i know that the brakesmart has saved my bacon a couple of times in panic stop situations. That being said, Dr performance now owns brakesmart, and their customer service is absolutely horrible. I ordered two new harnessess, as we were putting the units in 2 new trucks, but didn't want to pull the harnesses out of the trucks we were selling. It took them 2 weeks to ship out and every time we called to get a tracking number or inquire about shipping status, they were just "too busy" to talk to us. I swear if the brakesmart didn't work so well, i wouldn't recomend it just cause dr P stinks. Rant done. Now for exhaust brakes, i have run BD and Pac. My current truck has a BD, and the 06 will also get a BD shortly. Phil

 

[K_Arts]

BSwope - I notice you got the G56 like I do... just curious is all. Have you really noticed any time where you really needed an Ebrake?



I just picked up my G56 and boy 1-4 are pretty low. I know an ebrake takes the heat of the transmission, but, I'm contemplating whether I would really use an ebrake or not, due to the gearing.