Hello everyone:

Just curious to hear from the users of exhaust brakes: pros and cons of remote vs. turbo mount, your recommendations and experience. Thanks to all.

 

turbo mount will limit your turbo selection if you plan on upgrading in the future both work the same .I have a turbo mounted one and now wish i had a inline cuz I need more air on my 01

 

I'll tell you a little about my experiences with both applications, and hopefully your questions will be answered:

My 2002 automatic powerstroke has the BD brand of turbo mount exhaust brake, and when the OD is off, and I have the Torque converter locked automatically once the exhaust brake is engaged, it works awsome. I hardly use my pedal brakes.
A good friend of mine has a 3rd gen 2002 Dodge diesel with a packbrake brand turbo mount exhaust brake, and even though I do not like how the installer wired everything to work, it still works decent. I drove his truck to be able to critique.
The D250 automatic 1st gen I used to own in my pics came with a US Gear remote brand exhaust brake that was mounted about 12" downstream of the muffler, like the instructions call for. I was the 3rd owner of that truck, and one of the previous owners had it installed. Since our A518 automatics do not have a lock up converter the best feature about that system was for warm up in the morning while I had it idling. It sounded cool, too, but for slowing down purposes, waste of time. Did not slow it down a bit, unless you shifted out of OD and possibly down to 2nd. I ended up yanking it out when I straight piped the exhaust system. Exhaust brakes, for the cash involved to buy and possibly have installed, is a waste for our auto's. Now a manual shift is another story. Now there an exhaust brake on a 1st gen, wether remote or turbo mount, will shine.

 

I've got a US gear remote 4" inline brake. Had to put it all the way out past the T-case. Still works great though! Only thing I don't like about it is at idle the pneumatic actuator rattles something fierce.

Aaron

 

I have run both a pacbrake turbo mount and currently run a 4" inline...

Both perform great.. would tow without one, makes a huge difference in braking... had to change to the inline because I upgraded to twins.. now it doesn't matter what I change the brake can do whatever..

 

do the inline exhaust brakes make the exhaust sound any different when its not engaged. i want to put one on my truck, but love the way mine sounds with the 4" straight pipe. the exhaust brake i remember a friend having made a "sucking" sound when engaged. also where would i get an inline exhaust brake.

 

exhuast brakes definitely have a different sound when engaged... it is blocking off most of the exhaust and creating up to 60psi of backpressure within the exhaust... what little does go by does so in a hurry and make a air sound... All brakes will do this, but will not make any changes in exhaust noise while it is off

 

oh ok, well that makes me feel better, does it sound goofy when its engaged?? where could i get an inline one

 

Yep you will get some looks sitting idle engaged... Sound a lot better with a good load pushing on the brake...

 

Yeah at idle with it engaged, sounds like someone stuck a compressed air nozzle in your exhaust. haha

But with it not engaged, I didn't notice any difference in sound, straight piped. Sound isn't a good reason to not have a brake, if you do any heavy towing, its about the best money you'll spend on the truck.

Being able to come down these mountain passes, grossing 16k and never touching the service brakes is priceless.

Aaron

 

Thank you all for the answers.

That brought another question: vaccum or air actuated, and if you go inline mount, do you place the exhaust brake before the muffler or after ( I have the kind supplied by Stan's in his 4" turbo back )?

In the case of remote or inline mount do you still have to have the 60lbs exhaust valves?

 

US gear, BD power, Pac brake, Banks(a maybe on the Banks) and Jacobs. These are the big boys that carry e-brakes for our trucks. If you googled any of these guys you will be led. The sound of the ebrakes while engaged, well, I've been told like a jet engine.

Somebody said something about the 60 lb. springs, yeah, that would be a wise decision on our cummins to have them upgraded to.

Again, I will repeat myself, an ebrake on an automatic 727 3 speed and A518 3 speed w/ OD (what is on our 1st gens) is a waste of time and money-it WILL not work. Like using the palms of your hands out your window to try and slow you down.