Im looking into having a exhast brake put on my rig and im curious what the opinions are around here about brands quality ect? Id also be curious on what are reasonable prices and other info. Thanks.

 

I've been looking at this for a while , not have the bucks redly , makes for more info gathered .
I've got an auto , so I'll upgrade the trans. 1st , my guess is that if your towing heavy than you might want to look forwards to a clutch upgrade .
Then the next is I also upgraded my exhaust 3" to 4" , so if thats in your plans , get the exhaust 1st ,
Next is some have an opption to go with the inline , or off the turbo , some like to have off turbo to stay away from road spray .
Then some claim to work better at lower RPMs .
From what I've read there are 3 brands , all seem to be good .
Then how is it controled ? some require an added airpressure supply , others vacume , then electric .
I may have given you more ??? than answers .

 

Yeah it helps but what are the three brands you know off. I know jacobs, packmar, and banks but i have no idea if they are worth _.

 

i have had a pacbrake prxb for 1 1/2 years, i love it, easy straightfoward install, and never had a problem with it. i bought it directly from pacbrake.

 

Brake Systems Inc. has quite a large selection of exhuast brakes including guillotine syle. They have them electric and air operated and list dimensions for custom applications. I have no idea of their price or quality, just came accross it when searching for some info.

 

That makes 4 , I forgot about Banks [ high prices ] the missing is , oh now that you ask I'm not remembering , maybe BD , Gear something , funny this is the one that I was thinking of using , maybe we'll get some more info from someone .

 

I'll truly admit, I hate my exhaust brake. Its been a pain in my *** since day one.
It arrived assembled backwards. Call one to the factory. The activation switch shorted. Call two to the factory. Missing "supplied" sealing gaskets. Call three to factory. Continued leaks at seals; removed 4 inch downpipe and fully welded mating connectors. Brake activation assembly releases under high pressure (like at high RPM coming down the mountain; like just when you need it). Call four to the factory.
The factory has been very helpful, and responded quickly with repair parts at no cost. I have not yet figured out the high rpm/pressure problem because I spent more money and outfitted the trailer with brakes. I do have suggestions from the factory, just haven't tried them.
Had to do over, I wouldn't have purchased a 4 inch in-line brake from US Gear. Waste of money.

 

Main ones are Pac brake, Jacobs, BD, and USGear. Jacobs is the one put on by the factory now. Pac brake and BD seem to provide the highest braking to the lowest speeds. Jacobs, Pac Brake, and BD seem to have about the same level of quality. Heard of more problems with USGear then the others but don't have any experience with the USGear stuff myself. The Jacobs, newer Pac brake and BD use air compressors, I think USGear also has one of those for an option also. I think the Jacobs compressor uses a replacement or extra belt run from a pulley on the front of the truck (may tie into the serpentine belt system but I'm not sure). The Pac brake and the BD both use electrical compressors.

There are seem to be two primary types of exhaust brakes in-line and elbow replacements. The in-line require cutting the exhaust pipe and installing the brake. The elbow systems replace the elbow between the turbo and the down pipe. Biggest advantage with the elbow replacement versions is that it doesn't require cutting your exhaust pipe and the wiring/plumbing is simpler. Took me about 3 hours to install the Pac Brake on my system.

You need 60lb valve springs for the best braking (they weren't standard on the earlier dodges but became standard later (I THINK yours has 60lb valve springs but am not sure you may want to check). You can still use the Pac brake with the 30lb springs if that is what you have but you do loose some braking capability. You also should have a torque converter that can be locked not sure what your options are but the aftermarket valve body in my truck was setup to control second gear lockup.

Turning on the exhaust brake when idling at stop signs raises the EGTs by about 200 degrees on my truck, helps cut down warm up time in cold weather.

I've been really happy with mine. I rarely have to brake the truck from more then 20 mph now with the e brake on. On a six degree grade, it will slow my truck to 30-40 mph and hold it there while the tranny is in the normal drive position. My daughter with towed a loaded 28 ft horse trailer over Wolf Creek pass and although her truck only has 30lb valve springs, she only had to touch her brakes twice on the entire downhill. I don't really remember but I think the downhill portion is a twisty run between 4 and 7 mi long at 4 to 6 degree grade.

 

I've had zero problems with my in line us gear de cellerator.I've had it for over 2 years now.No complaints.

 

Thank you, dumb question but valve spring?

 

Valve spring upgrades were a 12 valve issue - not applicable to the 24 valve engine.

I've had no problems whatsoever with my turbo-mount Jacobs e-brake. The turbo mount has the advantage of lower fixed clearance when activated - the closer the e-brake is to the engine, the more effective it can be. The main disadvantage of the turbo-mount e-brake is if you ever want to upgrade to a larger turbo that uses a different exhaust flange on the turbine housing, you're dead in the water.

Rusty

 

Thanks, I thought that was the case but wanted to mention it in case I was wrong. Good point regarding the turbo connection/performance issue.

 

How about blue ox? saw them today while looking

 

i am gettin ready to purchase a truck that has a banks e-brake on it, i didnt look that closely to it and dont know that much about them. what type of e-brake is it and how good does the banks brakes work?

 

5 years and running with zero problems on BD brake. It gets used everyday.

Jeff