Sorry about no pictures. Not enough time, and I need to get going to work. I'll post pictures later when I have some time to get the panel off of the truck and take some.

How to make an Exhaust Back Pressure Valve work for you as a brake.
If you have an automatic than you are required to provide for the torque converter lockup.
Here is the only writeup that I know of to make your own brake.
http://pages.prodigy.net/stevebaz/_import/pages.prodigy.net/stevebaz/index3.html
It's one long continuous page. Just do a search for "Exhaust brake" and you'll find it.
OK. I have a six speed stick and don't have to worry about the stinkin' torque converter.
My truck is a 1999 F-550 PSD. It's the ONLY Ford diesel that I have experience with so your experience may vary. I am not trying to sound like a lawyer here, just being realistic.
I went to NAPA auto parts and bought a three position switch that has off in the middle. On one side is fully on in that you can move the switch to that position and it will stay. On the other side of "off" is momentary on, meaning you have to hold it in that position for it to remain on. Take your hand away and it returns to "off". It was a fairly expensive switch at $20.00+. Go to Radio Shack and get a 10 ohm resister part number: 271-132. The Radio Shack near my house didn't have the right switch. Also needed are some 20 gauge wire in two different color codes, and an assortment of electrical connectors to complete the circuits required. Butt connectors, 1/4 inch female spades. And a 2 inch length of 8 gauge wire with butt connectors for each end.
Open hood and remove HPOP cover. Not really necessary but it makes the job easier if it's out of the way. Find a two wire plug at the bottom of the turbo housing just about dead below the intake "Y". It's pointed forward. Unplug it from the turbo. Get a test light and start the motor. To verify that you have unplugged the right plug test for power at the plug. One terminal will be ground (no light at all). The other terminal will be a weak 12v flashing signal that will make your test light flicker. Make note of the color code of the wire that has power. If that's the case, TURN OFF THE ENGINE, go ahead and cut the wires for that plug several inches back from the plug and set aside. Take measures to insulate the now bare wires coming out of the factory wiring harness. You don't want that 12v to go straight to ground and short out the ECU!
Take the plug and wires that you just severed and make a pigtail long enough to reach into the cab of the truck with room to spare for mistakes. Keep track of the color code wire that had the power so that you can connect up the solinoid in the same way as from the factory Plug in the plug to the EBPV with your new long leads attached and route them into the cab. Zip tie the leads down so everything is secure. Go into the cab and find a suitable place to mount the switch. Make sure the back side of the switch won't interfere with anything and go ahead and drill out the hole for mounting the switch. OK, now you need to find some switched power, meaning the power goes off when you turn the truck off. On mine it was the 8 guage grey with yellow stripe wire that was coming off of the bottom of the steering column. Get some large butt connectors and a 2inch piece of 8 guage wire and make a bridge with some of your 20 guage wire coming out of one of them. You can also get a fuse tap, you know those little connectors that stick out from the fuse that stereo shops like to use, if you want to get power that way. Just make sure that it turns off when you turn the key off. Wire up the switch so that power goes to both sides of the switch. The center terminal is for the wire that goes to the solinoid. Ok, now take the resister and connect it inline to the wire that goes to the power in side of the solinoid. The resister is there to limit the voltage to the solinoid. (You did keep track of that color coded, didn't you?). Connect the other end of the resister to the center terminal of the switch. The other wire coming from the solinoid simply goes to ground. That should do it. Do an overview of all connections to make sure that nothing's crossed or going to chafe and start the motor. In the center position (OFF) nothing will happen. Move the switch to either side and the valve will close after about 2 seconds.
It's really only effective above 2500 RPM. Not much use when you're driving empty. But when you are loaded up heavy and going down a mountain pass, then it's worth more than it's weight in gold. It also is a good anti-theft device. Leave the switch on and the truck can barely get out of it's own way.

 

Good info. Thanks for sharing your version of this mod with us.

 

Your version of the exhaust seems to be the most straightforward and I would like to set my truck up with one. I own a 2002 F350 W/7.3 long bed service truck weighing 12000 Lb. and I travel the grapevine here in central Ca. daily and occasionally one 13% grade in Death Valley. My front brakes last about 40K miles.
I cannot seem to find my exhaust backpressure valve and it's operating solenoid. I have located the wastegate and it's operator but nothing else is on the down pipe. Could it be that my truck, manufactured for So. cal does not have one?
Thanks for your info Kwikkordead

 

I just got back from vacation in Yellowstone. . I'll clear out my digital camera's picture chips and then take one of the EBPV and show you where to look.

 

http://community.webshots.com/photo/...89708183nZMRoD
Here's my webshots page. It's the last picture on the album that has the places to find the EBPV. One thing to remember about my version. It ONLY works with a stick shift. If you have an automatic then you must do something about keeping the torque converter locked up on decelloration or it won't work very well.

 

Kwik, that sounds great for us 6-speed owners, is your truck an early 99 or a 99.5? For some raeson the link you posted won't work. One more question will this allow you to turn off the EBPV in the winter, or will the pcm override this until the truck is warm. That thing gets a little loud in the winter with a straight pipe.

 

I have the 99.5.
It completly disables computer control of the EBPV because I cut the wires to it from the wiring harness and wired in a switch.
One thing I would add: don't bother with the three position switch. I just returned from a vacation in Yellowstone and had ample opportunity to use the brake. It was a lot of fun to flip the switch and not have to use the brake pedal until about a 7% grade. But I never used the momemtary part of the switch that I bought. Recommend just getting a simple on/off switch.

 

Try this link instead:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...89708183nZMRoD

 

Sounds good, I think I'll give it a try this week. We think alike, why pay someone to do what you can do yourself. You have a lot more experience then I do in the automotive world so keep posting these great ideas so I can keep modifying my truck. That one works.

 

Thanks for the pictures KWIKKORDEAD! I just completed the install on my service truck and it works great. I can now go down the 7% grapevine in sixth gear, w/o using the service brakes. The exhaust brake is more than enough, I have to turn the thing off occasionally it is that effective.
I bought a two speed axle (push-pull) switch and mounted it to my gear selector stick along with my air horn button.
I also incorporated into the wiring a 10 Ohm resistor and two rectifiers to allow the computer to work, and my check engine light stays off!
The whole thing cost me around $40. I would post some pics but I am new to this site and I cannot post attachments.

 

That's great. It's a lot of fun to flip the switch and not worry about red-hot brakes anymore.

 

Man, Kwik that thing is buried in there, a least on my early 99 it is. My big hands just don't seem to want to get into that little hole. I am gonna try again when my downpipe comes in. Instead of the momentary switch I got a standard SPST switch with 3 terminals ( power, ground, and load ) that should work right.

 

Are you trying to unplug the solinoid? Take a look at the picture again. You'll see a small wire bale that is a retainer for the solinoid plug. It must be pulled up. It will swing like a drawbridge up and over the top of the plug and lay on the top of the wire. Then it's easy to unplug. Don't lose the little rubber gasket that keeps the water out of the plug. It's inside the plug, I don't remember if it's on the wire side or the solinoid side. It's very tight quarters in there. I ended up pulling the plug and wiring harness toward the front of the truck and was able to get enough access to clip the wires for the plug and leave a few inches of wire showing so that I could splice in the wires form the switch. Wrapping the cut ends of the wiring harness on the ends that I just cut was the hardest part. I ended up not having enough room for anything but to just get some butt connectors for joining two pieces of wire together and just clamping it to the wire end and leaving it. It was insulated from the outside and the only way for a short to happen then was some conducting material would have to be introduced inside of the conductor that was grounded. Very unlikely. I also stuffed it inside the insulating wrap that the wire was residing in.
Anyway once you get the little plug in your hand, (you kept track of the little rubber gasket didn't you?) life is a lot easier. You can build the harness from the switch on the bench and then thread it in however you like.

 

Thanks Kwik, I had the correct plug ( kinda yellowish tan color ) I just couldn't figure how I was gonna get my big ole hand in there to unplug it. I'll try like you said and see if it works any better. I really hate having 315s on my truck when I am trying to reach something up under the firewall.

 

This is a very good idea, thanks!