Esteemed listers:
you'll find that there are two distinct types of brakes. The butterfly in the exhaust that was mentioned is an exhaust brake, but there is also a more complex brake that uses cams and valves to change engine exhaust valve timing. The former type would be more applicable to army trucks in general, if we're talking retrofitting. be advised that the LDT series of engines have a familial weakness in the connecting rods, and retrofitting one with an exhaust brake may push it over the top into rod failure. The added stress takes its toll on the engine internals. You're converting the inertia of the truck's forward motion to heat in the resulting compressed air that such a brake produces, and the extra load it places on pistons, et al, is significant. You don't get anything for free. I'd guess that if your engine is in good mechanical shape, and doesn't have thousands of hours on it already, a conversion would be worthwhile. If it's a hot runner, leaker, or smokes and uses oil, fugeddaboutit.
Go visit http://www.pacbrake.com/howthey/index.html
to learn all about these puppies, and view photos.
best to all,
CJ, searching for plastic pipe big enough to bury trucks in
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Dec 07 2001 - 00:36:24 PST