A friend of mine had one installed on his Ford and I was wondering what the opinion is on them. His is installed somewhere on the exhaust pipe and not near the turbo housing like most others. He said they claim its better because it keeps the temps down on the turbo housing. I dont know if that is correct or not as there doesnt seem to be as much heat as when running WFO.

Joe

 

I have one of these mounted after the cat - took it off the '03 and put it on my new '05 ride. No problems and they work as advertised - very helpful when heavily loaded (I run with a slide-in camper in the summer) and it makes a world of difference when going down steep grades in the mountains. Only problem I'm having (nothing to do with the e-brake) is exhaust leaks in the stock elbow and in the downpipe-cat inlet (I had a banks downpipe in the '03, and no cat). I need to find some gasket material for the downpipe and visit a muffler shop to get them to weld the cat-inlet and seal it up.
USGear are good to deal with - had a couple of tech support calls during installation and they provided very good support.
Hope that helps.

 

Honestly, I don't know anything about the US Gear Exhaust Brake. However, I have heard the NEW style of Pac Brake is supposed to function a lot better at lower rpm's, now. I think it's a similar system to the BD Brake.

From what I've heard, many of the brakes only work efficiently at higher rpm's. These brakes have a valve in them that only opens at higher rpm's so that the exhaust preasures are more controlable.

You might want to get ahold of Fred Swanson, in Waddell, AZ. I believe he is a dealer/installer for the Pac Brake & maybe others.

Regarding the remark in your signature about not being able to fill the last 6 gals. of fuel in your tank, all of have the same problem. There is a member at the TDR that manufactures & sells a fix for that problem called the "Fuel tank bomb", I believe. He goes by the name, "Spooled-up".

Hope this helps.

Joe F.(Buffalo)

 

I was wondering if there were any issues with the tranny(auto) with these vs an engine brake? Sounds like the only alternative for the earlier,automatic, 3rd gens? The engine brakes from Pac and others cause trannny failures (or so I hear).

 

Guys, I would not have an exhaust brake unless the tranny was modded heavily. 170 hp of braking force is unreal. It will almost lock up the wheels with 30,000 pounds combined weight at over 2000 rpm engagement. I love mine but my stock tranny would have probably only lasted for one stop. ks

 

My understanding is that "Engine Brakes" are available only on the "Big Truck" engines (Jake Brakes). They invlove the valves.

Exhaust Brakes put a valve or restriction in the exhaust pipe, creating back preasure in the exhaust.

With an older automatic, you may be doing damage to the trans. if you don't beef it up. DTT, ATS & other high-performance trans. builders can probably give the info. you need before installing an exhaust brake.

Joe F.(Buffalo)

 

I understand what an exhaust brake does but how does it function? Does it pick a vacuum signal or signal from the brake light circuit to move the valve in the exhaust? If this is all there is to it, why not just make a manually operated one?

Joe