First time on this forum and Hi to all. Just got my first Ford PSD, a '99 F350 club cab,long bed SRD that we tow our 30ft 5th wheel with. Its a great truck so far.waytogo We plan to sell the house and go full time in our trailer. will be doing a lot of traveling out west which means a bit of mountain driving. The PSD should get me up the hills ok but what about going down. What do you guys recomend for an exhaust brake setup? Whats the best , what is affordable? I've looked at Banks system but they are really pricey. How much of a load does it put on the tranny/torqe converter? Thanks for any help you can give.
Hi and welcome to the site. Sorry it took so long for a reply. As far as the exhaust brakes go, I like the BD Variable Orifice exhaust brake which runs in the neighborhood of just under $1000 Not sure about the load it puts on the tranny and torque converter.
Almost forgot about Pac brake. The generally run about $850. I havnt heard anything bad about them, however i dont know anybody witgh one.
Budkole, Thanks for the info. I'll investigate BD and pack brake units. $800. to a $1000. is better than the $1300. quote I got from The Banks people but theirs comes with some sort of electrical gizmo that controls the tranny and torque converter & some other engine controlls. Do you have the BD unit installed in your truck?
Nah, I dont have one installed. I never felt the need for one yet. Well, maybe once i did wish I had one.waytogo
I have had my pac brake for several years now, and absolutely love it. I have had no problems what so ever with it. it's definetly worth the money. just be sure to get a torque lock controller of some sortwaytogo
the exhaust brake creates a lot of back pressure, you might want to get a EGT gage for those long long down grades just my 2 cents worth.
I've noticed some of the cheaper exhaust brakes don't come with the electronics that are necessary to keep the torque converter locked up while the brake is applied. I would probably upgrade the torque converter to a billet triple disk unit. Put a bigger cooler on that bad boy too. If you're coming out west, better get some more power! We got some big hills over here!!
