A have 2005 Dodge 3500 with CTD. I have ordered a Cummins/Mopar Jake Brake. It is due in any day now.

Questions are -

1) For the do it your selfers - How much trouble is the installation? How long did it takek? Any issues with the install?

2) For those who had it installed, what is cost? Any issues?

I am debating whether to do it myself. I am a decent shade tree mechanic, but the wiring/electronic part of the install is somewhat of an issue.

Any advise / comments would be appreciated.


THanks

Dan

 

I've looked at the instructions, on Jake's site, they look straight forward for the mechanically inclined.

I've been researching the Jake for my yet to be received '06....They get 6hrs book time.

HTH

Tony

 

Thanks for the standard time on the job - this will give me some type of feel for what they should be charging.

 

dws, I did not install a Jacobs exhaust brake on my truck, but I did install a PacBrake and it was not all that hard to install. It is really easy to get to the turbo when you take out the passenger side front fender well. It took roughly 4-6 hours to install, depending how hard you go at it. I like the pacbrake so far, but have not tested it with a good size load hooked to the truck....Jon

 

I took my time and it was about 4 1/2 hours, very clear instructions, boutht it from Mechanicsvill dodge for $1120 shipped to the front door

 

I have a 05 cummins i was goin to get one but then i say what the hell its too much money can i only have a 2500 and only pull a bobcat around during the summer months. i did install one on a friends truck.. me and him worked at it for about 4 and half hours we had alittle beer in us but in the end it came out perfect.. very easy to follow if you have all the tools and nice comfortable place to work.. only reason he got his was so the **** truck warmed up faster haha good luck i think if i was you i would tackle it my self have a friend help

 

The Cummins/Mopar Jack Break was not approved for the 2005 48re automatic tranny, something about electronic control programing interface and converter lock out.
I beleve it was compatable with the standard tranny in 2005.
Cummins/DC approved it for the 48re automatic in 2006.
Mine was ordered from the factory with the truck and installed at the dealership. A $1700 option, Installed. You mite try a search for Jake break and get more info.

 

I did mine myself, and I thought it was a fun project. Took 4-5 hours. It's all pretty straight forward, though messing with the belt was a pain.

You do not have to lift both front tires at once, like the directions say. You can do the passenger side to put the valve assembly on the turbo, then put the tire/fender liner back on and set it down. Lift the other side and pull the tire/fender liner when you need to make the connections to the ECM.

Ways I have heard people mess up:

Directions say to pull both batteries. Only the driver's side one is in the way (where you mount the electric vacuum valve) but both batteries need to be unhooked when you pull electric plugs apart or you will need to reflash.

Also, don't run engine w/vacuum pump installed but hose not hooked to anything.

Careful of the wires for the ABS sensors while pulling the front fender liners.

Anyway, if you enjoy little mechanical projects at all, I'd say go for it. Just be sure to read the directions before you start, and take your time.

 

Regardless of what dc says, will the jake work effectively on an 05? Or do you have to install a lockup device or something?

 

At least it is my understanding that 05 and earlier autos will overheat/fail if an exhaust brake is used w/o some sort of aftermarket provision to keep it locked up.

 

Hey Dan, you're gonna be really impressed with the Jake Brake. Quality product.

Having said that, let's move onto the questions.

1) For the do it your selfers - How much trouble is the installation?

Well, it is a bit of a PITA. But if you can go to work and make the $500 or $600 they charge, then by all means have the dealer install it.

If your like me and you could make the money, but hate to give it to the dealer, then do it yourself.

2)How long did it takek?

It took me 6 hours, I think I stared at the pictures in the manual for two of them.

3)Any issues with the install?

a) Make sure to gob some grease on the exhaust flange gasket to make it stick to the Jakes' inlet flange to keep it from falling off. And see if you can get a friend to help you with aligning the pins in the inlet to the back of the turbo, it makes it easier. Oh yea, don't forget to slide the V-clamp onto the Jakes' inlet flange and back away from the gasket cuz you wont be able to spread it after the Jake and turbo are mated. The rear V-clamp can be spread afterward.

b) You won't have to pull the drivers battery, even though Jeff in TD said the opposite. But you should cover it with some cardboard so you don't accidently touch any tools or wires to the terminals.

c) In the instructions they say to run the wires from the gear shifter switch on the outside of the shifter boot. This looks tacky, not to mention somewhere to get things tangled on. I ran the wires down the gearshift into the rubber booty, poked a small hole in the inner rubber booty and ran the wires out by the top of the tranny and back up to the Jakes' wiring harness.

d) In the instructions they mention three wires that come out of the shift switch harness, red, green and yellow, but they forget to say anything about the black wire. In the back there is a wiring schematic, it shows the black wire and the green wire being butt spliced together to the yellow wire coming out of the Jakes wiring harness.

e) Make sure to get a couple halogen lamps to manuever around the engine compartment. Reading the ECM connector, routing wires and bolting up turbo to the Jake can be difficult if you don't have good lighting.

f) Make sure to put the serpentine fan belt on last because your hands get all scraped up trying to route it. This is probably the most frustrating part of the install because it seems as if it should be the easiest part. Make sure to have a friend nearby to laugh at you, it keeps your morale up.

Thats all I can think of Dan, make sure to post how everything went and see if you can come up with some pointers of your own.

Good luck...................Jim

 

I thought about installing the Jake exhaust brake myself but decided to have the dealer to do it. Glad I did because the installation looks pretty involved. No doubt I could have done it, but it would probably have been a frustrating and time consumming job. I considered putting an exhaust brake on my previous 05 truck but decided against it because the lock-up controllers that were available would not lock up the 05 converter in 2nd gear (this is an 05 model issue). ATS said they were working on changes to their controller so it would lock up the 05 converter in 2nd gear but wasn't sure when it would be available. I definitely wanted the converter to lock up in 2nd gear because the exhaust brake works the best when the engine rpm's are higher (eg, 2,400 to 2,900 rpm). Consequently, to have good braking at 35 to 45 mph the truck needs to be in second gear to be running at these rpm's with a 3.73 rear end. As a result, I decided to buy an 06 truck because the ecm is programmed on the 06's to lock up the converter in 2nd gear. I really like the Jake exhaust brake. The dealer did a good job of installing it and it works as I expected. I think the exhaust brake cost me about $1,600 including installation. Not sure exactly what I paid for it because I negotiated it in with the purchase price of the truck. I don't think I will have any concerns pulling my 13,000 pound 5th wheel camper through steep mountainous areas any more. Good luck with your decision.

 

Jim,

I'm not intending to argue, but a while back I conversed with a guy who's jake would stay closed when the switch was turned off. He took it to the dealer who expected selinoid installed wrong but they found everything was installed right. For some reason ECM was sending power to selinoid valve to keep the Jake on all the time, and the switch checked OK, too.

Turned out solution was reflash, and they blamed not having pulled the cables off the driver's side battery during installation, saying that sometimes you get away with hot-plugging the computer, and sometimes you don't.

Maybe he wasn't telling me the truth, but when I did mine I thought it was worth the extra time to pull the neg cable off the driver's side...

Also, the gasket that came in my kit had a peel-n-stick adhesive that was pretty handy. They must have changed that.

Running the wires up the inside of the shifter is a great idea. I wish I had done that.

 

Hey Jeff, definitely pull the cables. I meant to say you won't have to pull the driver side battery out of the truck, only the passenger.

The solenoid bolts to the back of the passenger battery tray.

.........Jim

 

Jim,

We are on the same page, then. I didn't mean to imply in my first post that you needed to remove the driver's battery, just that you do need to make sure it is unhooked.

Your Jake had a roll pin to align to the turbo? That must be something they changed when they had the Jake on hold for a while. On mine, the stock elbow had a pin, but not the Jake. You kind of turn it until it squares up to both the downpipe and the turbo outlet, then clamp it down.