Exhaust brakes

RAS43 wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

All new pickups with diesel engines have exhaust brakes on them.
I will be odd man out on this and that's fine. My 93 and 06 do not have EB's and I don't miss them at all. (yes I have driven trucks that have them)
Been to Co many, many times and my brakes never even got warm on my 06. Came down Steamboat this year and I hit my brakes only a few times coming down from 11,000 feet.
Even my 93 engine brakes just fine.
I'm only at 16 gross and I know that's not much compared to some that tow their house on wheels. Maybe that's the difference between me and people that "have to have" and EB

I guess I am odd man out X2. Had an exhaust brake(Decelerator) on my '99 Ford and it worked okay. But I had to repair something on it often. Or it would stick closed at the bottom of a hill and I'd have to pull over and let it cool off. When I traded for my '06 I let the brake go with the truck and have done just fine with this truck. The turbo acts like an exhaust brake and keeps my speed under control, even pulling doubles and grossing 22000lbs thru our Colorado mountains. After 8 years the brake pads are original and still around 70%. Same with our 5th wheel-8 years old with original brakes.
I let the transmission do it's job and only touch the brakes when speed gets too high for the road. They never get hot. And I have traveled over most of our passes, even Red Mountain. JMO

Were you using the Exhaust Back Pressure Valve? I think it's original design was cold start only.

To the OP. Get an exhaust brake. My vehicle brakes are always cool to the touch. This means they are at 100% in case of emergency. The warmer the brakes the less ability they have to stop.