Blue Ox Exhaust Brake

[RollOver_Pete]

I've had a little time to do some tinkerin' on our 1985 Freightliner aka, the "RattleStar" this week.
One thing that has kinda bothered me was the lack of some kind of retarder.
It keeps you on your toes descending any kind of grade when you are just over 90,000 lbs.
Even running around light and local, I still hate having to use my service brakes as much as I do knowing that there are products out on the market designed to slow a vehicle down while saving your brakes.

On my 06 Dodge Ram,
I spec'd it out with a Jacobs exhaust brake to be installed before I was to take delivery of the truck.
The price was an additional $1300.00 and well worth it.
Since I often tow heavy, I wanted to be able to keep my brakes cool as long as possible.

In doing a little research,
I found Brake Systems Inc.
Brake Systems Inc. - Blue Ox Exhaust Brakes
They make and sell the Blue Ox exhaust brake which has been around for over 50 years.
Finding the parts for a Jacobs engine brake was going to be a bit costly.
Besides, parts for a 3406B seem to not be as popular as they once were.
The word "discontinued" seems to come up when ever I call Cat looking for parts.
So, with the owners approval,
I ordered the parts needed for an exhaust brake.

The kit BSI sent me was about one of the most straight forward, complete, bolt on kits I've ever seen.
The instructions covered and explained everything clearly.
A 10 year old could have installed this thing on his go cart....
That easy.

Start to finish took me about 4 hrs.
While its not a Jake Brake,
It's much, much better than nothing.
In fact, this Blue Ox exhaust brake works real well.
Much better than I had expected.
The price delivered to the door..... $973.00
They have kits for our trucks for about the same price.