Tonneau Cover and EB Repair

Kind of hard to take a picture of it but the tonneau cover arrived several days earlier than Amazon predicted. It is a TruXedo Truxport and it took, literally, 15 minutes to install. The intent for the tonneau is "keep honest people honest" as it is just a vinyl coated fabric. But if the tailgate is locked, you can't reach the release levers for the cover. There are four bows to provide support for the fabric evenly spaced along the length of the bed.

I had looked for one of these locally but the shops only carry the trifold variety or the aluminum or fiberglass hard covers. I was looking for a roll-up one as I would be able to simply roll it to the front of the bed when towing. I didn't want to order one until the toolbox was installed so I knew how much space was available between the sides of the bed and the toolbox lid. I also attempted to order a tailgate lock but was notified by Amazon that this item "only ships within the United States". I ended up stopping at a local vendor today and though they didn't have one in stock they could order it (free shipping). It was only $2 more but it'll be several weeks before it gets here.

Another needed repair turned out to be fairly minor. The exhaust brake (EB) had stopped working sometime in January but since I generally don't use it when it's really cold out, it didn't really matter. I figured that the air compressor had bit the dust as it has been installed for almost 11 years. The oilless compressor also didn't like running when it's cold so I had installed a relay, a switch and a dashboard LED indicator to let me know when the compressor was running. It is installed on top of the engine and you can't hear it when the engine is running. It turned out that the connectors to the air pressure switch (upper right in the picture) had simply come off.

The EB works by closing of most of the exhaust pipe using a pneumatic cylinder to close a flap inside of the exhaust pipe to create back pressure in the engine. The engine has to work against the back pressure and this slows the truck down. I have an older model and it is supposed to generate 60 bhp of braking force. It works really well as the regular service brakes are rarely used if you plan ahead (down shift when approaching a stop). The brake pads were checked last fall and the front pads are 75% of their service life left and the rear are 90%. Not too shabby for over 50k miles.

The EB is really useful when towing as you can safely descend most grades without having to touch the service brakes which prevents them from overheating. To keep the compressor from cycling every time you slow down, I installed a small (1½ gallon) air tank to the frame. Back in 2005, there were two dominant vendors of EBs one used an engine driven vacuum pump and the other an electric compressor. I figured that compressed air was more useful than vacuum. I am thinking of adding a quick release air hose connection as the pressure switch is set to turn the compressor on at around 80 psi as that is the minimum air pressure for this model of EB. They also have a 100 psi pressure switch available as an option.

I had to remove the front bumper today as the snowplow installer had pinched the winter front between the bumper brackets. A "winter front" is vinyl coated fabric that restricts air from reaching the radiator. This helps the engine warm up faster. It is usually held in place with snaps and straps. I know that this summer, I'll need to remove the winter front and replace it with the bug screen. Only one more project while the truck is in the garage. Finding power in overhead console for the TPMS system.