Good writeup Doug. I have the Jacob brake. Only for warranty purposes. I dislike the vacuum pump route, and wish they had a compressor system for their brakes. The air apply systems, IMO, are a better system. I don't think heat is an issue with these brakes, Jacob has been building this kinda stuff for a long while. If my cruise didn't work with the brake I'd be peeved (banks brake). I also use mine below 15mph all the time. I use it to slow down and only use my service brakes at the very end of the stop. The hissing out the tailpipe does get me some puzzled looks tho, especially when it ramps up to 1000rpm..

 

I think Doug pretty much said it all.

I have a Pac-brake and really like it, I also have the air horns and a 2 1/2 gallon air tank.

Jacobs, BD, Pac, or Banks, any will be a good choice. I highly doubt that you would be disapointed with any of them.

steve

 

just another comment about on board air. Like Mudder said, if you really pop a bead loose and drop a tire, you need lots of air to re-seat. When I "poped" a bead, I only lost about 20 lbs of air. I was driving over some real rough terrain off road and when I got to the highway I had to drive 20 miles into town with a low tire. My right front BFG AT KO had about 25 lbs in it, so I just took it slow until I found a gas station. that would have been one situation where the small tank on board air would have benefited me. That and it is really convinient when you don't have an air compressor at home, your wife's tire is low ...

Oh, and the other situation where I wished I had on board air was when I came up upon a bicyclist who was riding down the center of the road, completly and arrogantly slowing traffic. Thats one of those times I wish I had air horns ;D. Just kidding! some dolt that stupid would probably fall off the bike on purpose and sue me for scaring him half to death...

someone mentioned the "elbow". take a look at the BD brake -- it solves this problem too.

 

[quote author=Doug link=board=20;threadid=23773;start=15#msg226462 date=1071861624]
just another comment about on board air. Like Mudder said, if you really pop a bead loose and drop a tire, you need lots of air to re-seat. When I "poped" a bead, I only lost about 20 lbs of air. I was driving over some real rough terrain off road and when I got to the highway I had to drive 20 miles into town with a low tire. My right front BFG AT KO had about 25 lbs in it, so I just took it slow until I found a gas station. that would have been one situation where the small tank on board air would have benefited me. That and it is really convenient when you don't have an air compressor at home, your wife's tire is low ...

Oh, and the other situation where I wished I had on board air was when I came up upon a bicyclist who was riding down the center of the road, completely and arrogantly slowing traffic. Thats one of those times I wish I had air horns ;D. Just kidding! some dolt that stupid would probably fall off the bike on purpose and sue me for scaring him half to death...

someone mentioned the "elbow". take a look at the BD brake -- it solves this problem too.
[/quote]

Yeah but if you scare 'em and they fall under the wheels (fump fump) hard to testify when they're in the ground rotting. My favorites are the bozos on bicycles who blow the stop signs when you are turning right.
If you need air get one of those plug into the power outlet compressor things to pump your tires up. They are slow but do work.

 

I have the dealer installed Jacobs brake on my 03. I have never had one before and for my toy towing truck I will never be without one again. I loved it in the mountains of NC. Never had to use the brakes going down any grade we ran across. As for the issue of non standard belt size I just bought an extra one and stuck it under the back seat. I have a set of air horns and just used the compressor that was supplied with them. ;D