exhaust brake

[tckrapp]

I am interested in opinions on if I should install an exhaust brake and a brand recommendation. I have a 2001 quad cab, HO with six speed manual. Plan on towing a boat and trailer ( tri-axle ) aprox. 12,000#. The trailer has surge brakes on all axles. Have been towing with a 1989 chevy 350 ( gasoline ) with automatic. Have made trip from Calif. to Penna. with many shorter trips over the past ten years. The trailer handles well and I am not sure if the investment in aditional exhaust brake is justified.

 

[Archive]

tckrapp... I have the Cummins E Brake. It is my most used accessory. I tow as often as I can, cause I enjoy doing it, but run empty most of the time. I use it even then, saving wear on the truck brakes. I highly recommend a brake to anyone that tows.
Now, as far as which brake... how many colors are in the rainbow? All I can say is search the archives, study what you find, and make your own decision. Remember, its my MOST used accessory!

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Rob Hanson
1999 "Big Red", 3500 SLT QC 4X4 6 spd, 4. 10 LSD, Braided SS fuel lines, Mag-Hytec Rear Cover, Cummins E-Brake with BD Switch, Blue Box, DD3 Injectors, Banks High Ram and 14cm Wastegated Turbo, All-steel Cowl Induction Hood, Cummins RED Valve Cover, Rhino, Rosewood Kit, Scotty System, SportComp Gauges, TorkLift SuperHitch, Tekonsha Brake Controller, Rear Flood lights, Cobra CB, DeeZee Running Boards, BD 2WD Low kit, Air Lift bags, Hitco exhaust blanket, air horns, NW Custom Mudflaps and a Geno's "I tromped a Ford" decal. Member of BOMB! (WW NW Chapter)

MyPics.com (pics updated 02/17/01)

I'd rather be... .
Cummin than Strokin.

 

[Ron Bissett]

Originally posted by tckrapp:
I am interested in opinions on if I should install an exhaust brake and a brand recommendation. I have a 2001 quad cab, HO with six speed manual. Plan on towing a boat and trailer ( tri-axle ) aprox. 12,000#. The trailer has surge brakes on all axles. Have been towing with a 1989 chevy 350 ( gasoline ) with automatic. Have made trip from Calif. to Penna. with many shorter trips over the past ten years. The trailer handles well and I am not sure if the investment in aditional exhaust brake is justified.

This is the second time I tried to reply ,Think Diesel not gas verry little hold back bad, for brakes . Pac-brake is good BD also and Dodge is good but best for me is most bang for the buck I whent with Pac and saved some money by puting it on with easy to follow inst . all parts in Kit use with Ecm or under pedel switch . check archives for more information
P. S one mistake had wrong wire hooked up 16 guage insted of 18 Black ornge wire asked for help on this site fix was in in five min.

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99DCTD3500 5spd pac,/American Star 26ft 5th wheel one slide. (95),mod

[This message has been edited by ddskipper (edited 04-28-2001). ]

 

[rhoads]

D-celerator easy to in stall and easy to trans fer to new truck. . No elbow, 600,000 mi and never been touched.

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96-3500 SLT EXT. CAB AM/FM/CD-RINO LINER. D-CELERATOR EXH. BRK-RED LINE VAC. OVER HYD BRK CONTROL- AIR BAGS W/HVY DUTY AIR COMP. PUTCO S/STEEL DEEPBOARDS FRONT TO REAR. REESE 20K 5TH WHEEL & GOOSE -REESE 20K HITCH BELOW W/17K RECEVER. CLEAR COATED & SOUND DEADINGING &UNDER COATED 5 SPD/W 4:10 MCHLN'S 235/16'S UNIDEN PC76/WEATHER-WILSON 1000 MAG MOUNT ANT. 4 WHL ANTI LOC BRK SYS.
750,000 miles

 

[Waterpete]

I've had an exhaust brake for about three years and wouldn't be without it. My wife also loves it on those big hills. We tow with a combined weight of about 20K. We have a BD Brake with a torque-lok and highly recommend it.
I also use it in town.

 

[merryman]

With any load at all, its the one "must have" add on.

Vaughn

 

[Skibby]

I have the Jacob's exhaust brake on my truck that is recommend by Cummin's and Daimler/Chrysler,I believe it's the ''E'' version,I wouldn't be without it,I tow a heavy fifth wheel,you really have peace of mind especially when desending long grades,hope that helps.

 

[Utah Willie]

Absolutely have an exhaust brake installed and since the Jacobs (Mopar) mounts directly to the turbo outlet and is made by the same folks that make Cummins... . It would be and was my first and final choice. I feel every diesel that tows or carries anything heavier than a haybale should have an E-brake. The wonderful feeling of having cool service brakes at the end of a long 6 or 8 percent grade more than makes up for the cost. #ad
Then... there's that nice roar one gets to hear! #ad
#ad
#ad
I tow several toys and carry a camper as well but the 5er at 12. 5 1o 14K is handled with ease. The only downside is that passing cars will tell you your brake lights aren't working! H*** no, because you haven't touched the brakes!

 

[Evan A. Beck]

In my honest opinion, the BD Brake and Jacobs E-Brake are the best. Everything else flat out sucks.

Avoid the Pacbrake... I have seen many of them go bad due to por craftsmanship, and the pressure regulation on them is garbage... You have to drill a hole in the butterfly valve to regulate the pressure. This is fine when the pressure is high, but at lower RPM, it renders the brake virtually useless.

The US Gear D-celerator is garbage as well. It is still the old electric-solenoid style, and those are prone to becoming a victim to corrosion because of the location they are in. Also, you had better have a tight exhaust system for using on eof these, as it is a remote-mount (under truck) style. Also, the wiring system they use is too complicated for the application.

The BD Brake is by far the best. All componets on it are replaceable, making service easy. The vacuum chambe and piston are finely machined parts, and their regulation system is the best. Rather than use a pressure switch like they used to, they now have a 60 lb spring inside the vacuum chamber. When pressure gets to 60 lbs, it will actually push the butterfly valve open, regulating exhaust pressure.

The Jacobs E-Brake is designed well, and I like their control system the best... On the 24-Valve trucks it interfaces with the ECM, so no accelerator microswitch is needed. Installation is easy.

I will be installing a BD turbo mount brake on my truck soon, and will be wiring it into the ECM so I don't have to put in an acclerator pedal microswitch. This is going to be a real trick setup--best brake, with the best control system. Gotta love that! #ad


One last thing, when it comes to exhaust brakes, you get what you pay for, with the exception of the D-celerator--which is expensivec crap! #ad

 

[SmokinJoe]

Originally posted by Evan A. Beck:
Avoid the Pacbrake... I have seen many of them go bad due to por craftsmanship, and the pressure regulation on them is garbage... You have to drill a hole in the butterfly valve to regulate the pressure. This is fine when the pressure is high, but at lower RPM, it renders the brake virtually useless.

I have purchased a Packbrake, there is a hole in it already. I have not mounted it yet... I sure hope you are wrong about going bad.



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2001. 5 QC 2500 White Sport 4x4 LWB ETC 5-Speed Anti-Spin 3. 54 Trailer Tow 241HD SLT+ Tan Leather(Mad Cow Disease) LT265/75R16E

 

[Evan A. Beck]

A lot of it has to do with preventative maintenance. Main problem with the Pacbrake is they are prone to sticking open or closed. Use it often, and it wouldn't hurt to put some anti-seize in the pivoting bosses. Also, for you automatic guys using a Torq-Loc, you will need to drill out the regulating hole to 31/64. " Makes a real lovely hissing then. #ad


You may want to consider upgrading to a BD Brake, but it is up to you.

[This message has been edited by Evan A. Beck (edited 04-29-2001). ]

 

[MChilds]

Don't worry about the quality or support from Pac Brake. I've used them for years on everything from Cats' to Cummins without problems except for one and that was because Freightliner installed the brake up side down and it began to squeek. Pac Brake sent me a new one and sent the bill to Freightliner. . Now can you beat that.

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2001 3500 SLT Plus 2WD 6-Spd, Pac Brake, Edge EZ, Centramatic Balancers, Fuzzy Dice

 

[Bill Kondolay]

“Avoid the Pacbrake... I have seen many of them go bad due to por craftsmanship, and the pressure regulation on them is garbage... You have to drill a hole in the butterfly valve to regulate the pressure. This is fine when the pressure is high, but at lower RPM, it renders the brake virtually useless. “

Evan,

I met you and I realize that you are young, I know you are still learning, I am old and still learning, however I think before making your above general statement that you should do a little more homework.

1)PacBrake is a 9001 ISO company, they have very high standards they must adhere to, also if you do some checking you will note that PacBrakes are now nitrite treated to eliminate sticking and rusting. Remember Evan , PacBrake is the oem supplier to Caterpillar.

I am going to stick to automatics because that is what I do,

When choosing an exhaust brake for an automatic, you must consider the following,
The tc clutch within the torque converter relies on centrifugal force for the apply pressure.
The higher the rpms the greater the force being applied against the tc clutch.

Evan if you doubt any of this information I am saying, please check it out with the atra-gears and do a search under torque converters, or centrifugal force, I guarantee you will find some very interesting reading.

While having extreme back pressure in an exhaust brake may sound attractive from a marketing point of view, it has a very serious negative effect on your tc clutch lining. Let me tell you a little story about what excessive back pressure cost a a guy named Bob Neamy, he bought a BD brake, along with a torque loc, in less than a 1 ½ years he replaced 7, torque converters and 3 transmissions. He spent over $10,000.

Yes Evan , you read that correctly, every body kept giving him a song and dance about why he was having his problems. No one bothered to check the backpressure on the brake.

When I got involved and heard his horror stories, the first thing I asked him to check was the backpressure on the brake, it was 33 psi at an idle.

Not only was he killing his torque converter as the torque loc kept the tc clutch engaged under heavy acceleration, he was killing the torque converter on the lower rpms as well with the higher back pressure of the bd brake.

I’m not saying there was a workmanship quality problem with the bd brake, this was an installation problem that no one bothered to diagnose.

Guys out there using the BD brake, you must check the backpressure and make it is within specs. While I realize that lowering the backpressure at lower rpms also deminishes its holdback capacity at the higher rpms, I guess it’s the user that must decide if its worth the tradeoff. It is a higher maintenance brake, due to carbon buildup, depending on your usage.

Evan that is why I chose PacBrake, it is an excellent built brake, well suited, and engineered for use with the Dodge Cummins Diesel, and their new nitrite process used on these brakes I feel makes them the most reliable and maintenance free brake on the market.

All the brakes on the market I believe are quite well engineered and built, you must choose the one best suited for your particular application.


Evan, one more thing , the harsh judgmental jumping to conclusions that happened with the prime loc thread , if I were you I would hate to be a party to that type of thread again.

You may want to check out the testing and follow up results on the prime loc thread, now called “ pumps , lines, whatnots” on the 24 valve section.

I would be very interested to hear your thoughts now, after reading that thread.

Bill Kondolay
Diesel Transmission Technology

 

[dewdo]

I have had two different E-brakes. One was the U. S. Gear D'Celerator installed by Camping World. Nothing but problems including having it blow completely off the exhaust once. Replaced the little dash mounted control box three times. I had to pay for it once. They are very proud of that little control box. (being in the field of electronics for 50 years I consider it cheaply made)

Go with anything, but not the D'Celerator unless they have upgraded it drasticaly and now warranty it for life.

I have the BD brake on my current Ram and have not had any problems with it in the 1 1/2 years it's been on.

Dewdo in the other Washington

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2000 Ram 3500 4 X 4 dualie W/B-D Exhaust Brake, Auto-Loc, Armr bed liner, DeeZee running boards, mud flaps, steps, leather, white with color splash on sides, would like to BOMB it, but after warranty. VA Box waiting to install.

34' King Of The Road 5th wheeler & 11. 5 Arctic Fox pickup camper. Winter in Arizona (Martinez Lake)

 

[rickhans]

You say that the Jacobs e-brake will interface with the ECM on a 24 Valve? I am planning on getting one but was told that on the 98 24 V. there is no output from the ECM to control the e-brake. Was I given bad info?


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98. 5 24V QC 4x4 SB 3:54 5sp

 

[Evan A. Beck]

Bill, thanks for replying to this topic, your input here is very valuable. I for one respect everything in your post. It takes my post one step further with the whole torque converter side of the issue.

So in rebuttal to your post, I agree the newer PacBrakes are better than the old ones. The old ones were poorly built, as we have seen many of them stick or fail in one way or another. This is most common on brakes built before 98, so I would assume that is when they changed over their manufacturing process.

I agree that the Torq-Loc has its flaws, one of which is the possibility to cause premature wear on the transmission. You mentioned 33 lbs at idle on that one truck--man, hard to believe people install these things without checking the backpressure. It would be nice if these things came from the plant set to nearly the right backpressure. Most of the ones I install are at about 25-26 before I adjust them down to 20. So for the do-it-yourselfer, get a pressure gauge and set it to the right spec, otherwise you can be assured you'll have trans problems down the line. I couldn't have said it better myself:

"Guys out there using the BD brake, you must check the backpressure and make it is within specs. "

The BD brake is not just a bolt-on-and-go accessory... It needs to be setup right for it to work and not eat TC clutches for lunch. And keep that Torq-Loc out of the RED position!

I may be going out on a limb here, but do you think that any exhaust brake on an automatic is a bad combination? Even if the trnsmission has the right modifications and the brake is operating properly? I am very curious as to what you think about that.

What are your thoughts about the manual transmission applications and backpressure?

Bill, the Prime-Loc post was more of an issue I wanted people to be aware of. Look at what it prompted... It got the company to start doing some tests and finally listen to us, the end users. That's what I wanted to have happen, and now by reading the "pumps, lines, whatnot" thread, you can see what my post started back in November. I think it is great what is going on with all the R&D guys are doing. Gotta love that!

 

[Evan A. Beck]

Rick, some '98. 5 trucks did not have that output in the ECM. IT will need to be reflashed if that is the case. Cummins can do that, takes about 20 mins.

 

[Ron Bissett]

Originally posted by Rick Hansen:
You say that the Jacobs e-brake will interface with the ECM on a 24 Valve? I am planning on getting one but was told that on the 98 24 V. there is no output from the ECM to control the e-brake. Was I given bad info?
Rick the DC folks can turn on the interface of the soft ware for BD PAC or Jacob fee ofcourse .

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99DCTD3500 5spd pac,/American Star 26ft 5th wheel one slide. (95),mod

 

[Ron Bissett]

Originally posted by Evan A. Beck:
Bill, thanks for replying to this topic, your input here is very valuable. I for one respect everything in your post. It takes my post one step further with the whole torque converter side of the issue.

So in rebuttal to your post, I agree the newer PacBrakes are better than the old ones. The old ones were poorly built, as we have seen many of them stick or fail in one way or another. This is most common on brakes built before 98, so I would assume that is when they changed over their manufacturing process.

I agree that the Torq-Loc has its flaws, one of which is the possibility to cause premature wear on the transmission. You mentioned 33 lbs at idle on that one truck--man, hard to believe people install these things without checking the backpressure. It would be nice if these things came from the plant set to nearly the right backpressure. Most of the ones I install are at about 25-26 before I adjust them down to 20. So for the do-it-yourselfer, get a pressure gauge and set it to the right spec, otherwise you can be assured you'll have trans problems down the line. I couldn't have said it better myself:

"Guys out there using the BD brake, you must check the backpressure and make it is within specs. "

The BD brake is not just a bolt-on-and-go accessory... It needs to be setup right for it to work and not eat TC clutches for lunch. And keep that Torq-Loc out of the RED position!

I may be going out on a limb here, but do you think that any exhaust brake on an automatic is a bad combination? Even if the trnsmission has the right modifications and the brake is operating properly? I am very curious as to what you think about that.

What are your thoughts about the manual transmission applications and backpressure?

Bill, the Prime-Loc post was more of an issue I wanted people to be aware of. Look at what it prompted... It got the company to start doing some tests and finally listen to us, the end users. That's what I wanted to have happen, and now by reading the "pumps, lines, whatnot" thread, you can see what my post started back in November. I think it is great what is going on with all the R&D guys are doing. Gotta love that!

Evan Pac has a hole in valve also comes from factory pre set for each vehicle and can have eather swich your choise
llook at the material used in each brake some use spot weld stamp steel others machined steel ect you must pick what you want LOL


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99DCTD3500 5spd pac,/American Star 26ft 5th wheel one slide. (95),mod

 

[tom sweeney]

i went with the Pacbrake, and love it. . i have the same truck. . (4x4)?works like a champ,and easy to install... tom

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2001QC 2500HD LB ETH/DEE 4x4 4:10's LSD, Pacbrake,Combo Gauge on A pillar,All options except cab lights,Xcelerator air filter,Forest Green/Light driftwood. Westin tubular black powder-coated side bars. Husky 16k 5th wheel hitch,26' Holiday Rambler 5th wheel,Extra Class Amateur Radio Operator ke3rx.