Flyinbowtie
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About 4 months ago I found a truck. Wasn't really chasing one but have been looking, kind of, for several months. I bought a 2007 Dodge 3500HD 4x4 with the 5.9 Cummins and a 6 speed manual trans. For years I wanted a legit exhaust brake. We tow up and over Donner Pass then down a 2 lane state hwy from 5000 ft. to 2000 ft. when we make our trips to Nevada. My dear friends are former Log Truck owner operators and I've been on the road with them.
When we got this truck one of the first things we did was decide on a E-brake.
There are several out there.
The Jacobs model was a factory option on these trucks. It uses a belt driven vacuum pump.
The BD Brake and the PAC brake both use compressed air and their kits offer a small compressor.
My friends have had good luck with the Jacobs, so that is what I went with.
Parts, as in replacement parts, are readily available via Dodge or Cummins or Jacobs.
Actual kits, however, are not. Using my VIN to search for the correct kit we found two, one in Denver and one in the east.
We got the one from Denver. The product can be ordered, but would have to be pieced together to get everything. The installation, while straightforward, is a tedious process and the book shows 7 hours. That is legit, for one guy it is a 7 hour job. The unit ties into the ECM and the brake disengages when you touch the service brake pedal. No matter what you have the switch set at.
A word on switches.
The kit comes with a rocker switch that you are supposed to drill a hole in the dash to install. Dodge/Cummins/Jake used to offer a push pull switch for shifter mounting on manual trans trucks, but they discontinued it. I searched around and found that the BD rocker switch would work for my application. It mounts to the shifter. As it should be on a manual trans truck.
My eldest son was in the process of buying a slightly used 2016 Dutchmen Voltage triple slide 5er toyhauler, and his truck needs to have the lift pulled off of it to get under this thing, so he had asked to use my truck to go get the trailer. The trailer was at Point Mugu in Ventura Co. They arrived back in NorCal today, and were able to sneak over the pass to Reno between storms. when he got home he gave me a call.
He has never driven a exhaust brake equipped truck with a load on it.
He is now a believer. The run from Donner Summit down into the town of Truckee is from about 7250 ft. down to 5800 or so in about 5 miles. Pretty good drop. His new trailer has an advertised empty weight of about 13500. He put the truck in 5th gear and set the cruise at 60.
He told me he never had to touch the service brake pedal. The exhaust brake, working in conjunction with the cruise control and the ECM, held the truck at the speed set by the cruise.
That, to my way of thinking, is awesome. Much less stressful crossing of the pass.
He said that he could run at 60 in 6th on the less steep portion of the pass east of Truckee and the E-brake would engage when needed, but when he touched the gas pedal or the service brake it disengaged.
They came home via 101 to 46 then onto 41 over to 5. There are some good little up and downs on the 46 and the 41, and he couldn't say enough about the added control and overall drive ability of the truck-trailer combo. He has a few things to do to his truck but he sees a e-brake in his future.
The trick to get maximum effectiveness out of these things is to get the engine into an RPM range where you get max braking, son said for the Cummins gearing tire combo in my truck it was happy at about 2200 RPM. more RPM was more braking, the brake was effective down to about 1600, but not where it was doing a lot of good. My family members with these 3rd gen Dodge trucks tow very heavy and with the jake they find their service brakes are wearing about 40% less than without, which makes sense. They can hold 35 MPH down a 2 lane lotsa corner road, riding in 4th on the exhaust brake, no service brake use at all.
If I couldn't get a Jake I would look first to the new Pac Brake PXRB models, they have variable orifices in them that gets you more braking power into the lower RPM range.
I know a lot of you guys tow heavy up Cajon pass, and out through Indio on the 10. I honestly don't think I will every own a truck that I tow heavy with that isn't equipped with an exhaust brake.
I kick myself in the ass for not doing this long ago to my Ford. Waterjunky, if you are reading this, look into a legit brake of some kind for the Ford. You wont be sorry.
Here are a couple of pics.
They call the trailer a 3805.
A tape measure says it is 41'6"
When we got this truck one of the first things we did was decide on a E-brake.
There are several out there.
The Jacobs model was a factory option on these trucks. It uses a belt driven vacuum pump.
The BD Brake and the PAC brake both use compressed air and their kits offer a small compressor.
My friends have had good luck with the Jacobs, so that is what I went with.
Parts, as in replacement parts, are readily available via Dodge or Cummins or Jacobs.
Actual kits, however, are not. Using my VIN to search for the correct kit we found two, one in Denver and one in the east.
We got the one from Denver. The product can be ordered, but would have to be pieced together to get everything. The installation, while straightforward, is a tedious process and the book shows 7 hours. That is legit, for one guy it is a 7 hour job. The unit ties into the ECM and the brake disengages when you touch the service brake pedal. No matter what you have the switch set at.
A word on switches.
The kit comes with a rocker switch that you are supposed to drill a hole in the dash to install. Dodge/Cummins/Jake used to offer a push pull switch for shifter mounting on manual trans trucks, but they discontinued it. I searched around and found that the BD rocker switch would work for my application. It mounts to the shifter. As it should be on a manual trans truck.
My eldest son was in the process of buying a slightly used 2016 Dutchmen Voltage triple slide 5er toyhauler, and his truck needs to have the lift pulled off of it to get under this thing, so he had asked to use my truck to go get the trailer. The trailer was at Point Mugu in Ventura Co. They arrived back in NorCal today, and were able to sneak over the pass to Reno between storms. when he got home he gave me a call.
He has never driven a exhaust brake equipped truck with a load on it.
He is now a believer. The run from Donner Summit down into the town of Truckee is from about 7250 ft. down to 5800 or so in about 5 miles. Pretty good drop. His new trailer has an advertised empty weight of about 13500. He put the truck in 5th gear and set the cruise at 60.
He told me he never had to touch the service brake pedal. The exhaust brake, working in conjunction with the cruise control and the ECM, held the truck at the speed set by the cruise.
That, to my way of thinking, is awesome. Much less stressful crossing of the pass.
He said that he could run at 60 in 6th on the less steep portion of the pass east of Truckee and the E-brake would engage when needed, but when he touched the gas pedal or the service brake it disengaged.
They came home via 101 to 46 then onto 41 over to 5. There are some good little up and downs on the 46 and the 41, and he couldn't say enough about the added control and overall drive ability of the truck-trailer combo. He has a few things to do to his truck but he sees a e-brake in his future.
The trick to get maximum effectiveness out of these things is to get the engine into an RPM range where you get max braking, son said for the Cummins gearing tire combo in my truck it was happy at about 2200 RPM. more RPM was more braking, the brake was effective down to about 1600, but not where it was doing a lot of good. My family members with these 3rd gen Dodge trucks tow very heavy and with the jake they find their service brakes are wearing about 40% less than without, which makes sense. They can hold 35 MPH down a 2 lane lotsa corner road, riding in 4th on the exhaust brake, no service brake use at all.
If I couldn't get a Jake I would look first to the new Pac Brake PXRB models, they have variable orifices in them that gets you more braking power into the lower RPM range.
I know a lot of you guys tow heavy up Cajon pass, and out through Indio on the 10. I honestly don't think I will every own a truck that I tow heavy with that isn't equipped with an exhaust brake.
I kick myself in the ass for not doing this long ago to my Ford. Waterjunky, if you are reading this, look into a legit brake of some kind for the Ford. You wont be sorry.
Here are a couple of pics.
They call the trailer a 3805.
A tape measure says it is 41'6"
