Exhaust brakes

I had the Jacobs/Cummins EB installed on my Dodge 3500 and never turn it off, use it even driving around town. checked brake pads at 90,000 miles and only had about 50% wear.

I didn't have a short piece of pipe handy and just wanted to get going and be done with the thing.
Barney

Hey Barney,

Sorry to hear of your problems with the US Gear EB.

The only thing under dash should be the control module...small circuit board inside is serviceable/replaceable. Sound like that was changed out.

The comment about taking it out every year to clean.......HA!
Mine hasn't been out since install 7 yrs. ago and if it comes out it will be for repairs not cleaning.

When you and mechanic had it out and couldn't replace bushing WHY re-install. Muffler shop make a short pipe :H
I wouldn't have it back in if it didn't work.

Mine has been flawless.

My PacBrake would stay stuck on going down a grade. Touch the go pedal to shut it off and a lot of black smoke came out the tail pipe. Had to pull over and push the external mechanism to release it. Found I could pop in neutral to get it to release. Talked to PacBrake about the problem they had me do several things to see what was wrong and finally they said they would send me a whole new unit. I was shocked since I bought it from DTT and they did the install. I asked what they thought the problem was. They said the two bolts that tighten the EB to the exhaust were probable tightened with a impact instead of a torque wrench.

So I did the install my self and used a torque wrench and had no further problems.

Thanks Pac Brake for standing behind your product!

And DTT thanks for doing a lousy job!

Barney, I'd be pretty upset also if that happened to me. I've had my BD EB installed since summer 2008. I installed it myself, it took me and 2 buddies about 4 hours to do the install. All of us certified aircraft mechanics, and not newcomers to working on cars & trucks. Still, only 1 of us had done an exhaust brake before. My install involved removing the turbo(which is the hardest part if you have a larger aftermarket downpipe), as the BD replaces a portion of the turbo housing. My only regret is not installing a wicked turbo wheel at the same time.

If I had to remove the EB and clean it every year....It would never get reinstalled. That's BS. I've put ~80K miles on mine, and I don't use it everyday or everytime I drive. Most of the time I blip it on a bit, and I certainly use it in cold weather to help warm up the truck.

I'd avoid US gear given your experience.

Old-Biscuit wrote:

BarneyS wrote:
Snip...
I am glad that you have had good luck with your U.S.Gear EB. I sure did not! See my post about it here.
Barney

" It only lasted about one year with minimal use before it had to be removed and a bushing replaced"

Maybe that minimal use caused your problem.
Did you let it cycle when first starting truck?

Mine has been trouble free. It gets cycled couple times a day plus gets used regularly/frequently....even when not towing.

If bushing was replaced......are you still using it?

It was not minimal use. What I meant to say was minimal use while towing. My truck is used daily and the brake was turned on just about all the time. Yes, I let it cycle every time the truck was started.

After about a year of working well, and I was a very satisfied customer, we were coming down a grade and when we got to the bottom the EB would not shut off. I had to come to a complete stop, turn it off, and then it would let me drive forward again. This happened just about every time the EB was used. It gets kind of tiresome having to come to a stop at the bottom of every large hill during a trip!

I took it back to the installing dealer (240 mile round trip) and he replaced something under the dash which fixed it for a short while. Then the same thing started again. The dealer would not do anything about it the 2nd time and said for me to contact U.S.Gear.

I did contact them and they suggested I should have been removing the EB at least once every year and cleaning it. This is not mentioned in the literature or their advertising. Had it been so, I would not have purchased the brake. This was not acceptable to me as I am too old to be going under the truck and doing that kind of maintenance nor do I expect to pay someone to do it. It should not be necessary!

They suggested I replace the bushing in the EB so I did remove the EB but could not get the butterfly valve removed in order to replace the bushing. Both my mechanic and I got fed up and just disconnected the EB and that is the way it has been for the past 7 or 8 years. It is an unused $1300 piece of junk attached to the underside of my truck and will most likely remain there until the truck is eventually turned into scrap or I replace the exhaust system.

Sorry to be so negative but that is a lot of money and U.S.Gear should have been much more helpful in getting the problem solved. I cannot recommend them or their product to anybody because of my own experience with them.
Barney

I did ask.. I am no wrench puller and really don't understand it,... He said it was for the torque converter.. Where as is will find out Monday when I call BD... Theirs hooks Like it hooks up to the tow/haul wire harness in the steering column.. I wonder if that's good enough to lock things up???

Aka the breeze wrote:
Banks is telling me that in order to put the banks brake on I need to also install the 6 gun tuner..... I don't want to run a tune, no need to do so...any other options?

I would question them as to why? I'd bet the answer is to control the automatic transmission.

Using an exhaust/turbo brake while NOT locking up the torque converter will generate lots of HEAT and not slow you down much if any at all. To achieve the braking action, the engine and drivetrain must be locked together.

my cummins has the US Gear "D-celerator" exhaust brake, its been trouble free

did have a wire break at the terminal on the brake solenoid,
10 minute fix to skin the wire and replace the terminal and hook it back up

Contact PacBrake and BD they are the best in the biz.