From what I understand, you need to be very careful installing an exhaust brake on the 6.0. I think it had to do with damaging the variable geometry turbo and excessive cylinder pressure causing the heads to lift--which would cause the headgaskets to fail.

I inquired about this on one of the diesel forums I frequent and the consensus was to purchase an SCT Tuner and have one of the many diesel performance shops write a custom towing tune for your truck (I use Innovative Diesel Performance) which can include a "turbo brake" that acts similar to an exhaust brake. It is activated when placed in Tow/Haul mode. Its apparently pretty good and about 1/5 the cost.

I would err on the side of caution and not install one unless you have headstuds installed. My $.02...

"gonzo1066" can tell you the do's and don'ts about them. He's a PacBrake dealer/installer. He's a pretty good wrench on any IH/Navistar diesel engine!!

The main thing to remember is NEVER use it in wet or icy condition!  This will have you call your hubby in a heart beat.....

GRMN>Which diesel forum did you research this on? Would like to read more info about it.

Thanks.

I had an exhaust brake on my 2006 6.0L  and I put 108,000 on that truck before buying my new truck.

At the time when I bought my brake.  PAC did not have a exhaust brake for the 6.0L with an automatic tranmission.  They only offerred an exhaust brake for the manual tranmission.  I don't know if that has changed or not since I had mine installed and you didn't say what your transmission is.

I got the B&D Exhaust Brake, They were the only exhaust brake with a physical valve designed for the 6.0L with an automatic transmission.  As mentioned there are several programs available to tuners that used the variable vanes in the turbo to create back pressure.

The B&D used a valve ( sat just about under the passengers seat) that was actuated by a air pump.  The valve springs on the Ford 6.0L have a 40 something lb valve spring, So the back pressure had to be set at 40lbs or less so you didn't cause the valves to float So you set the wastegate to open and release pressure at 39 or 40 lbs.  This created 180 ft/lbs of braking which was less than what you could get with an exhaust brake on a Cummins or Duramax engine both of which have stronger valve springs. But I found very sufficient for what I needed.

The reason that B&D was able to deliver a product for the 6.0L equiped with the Auto was that they developed a Tranmission Control Module that worked with the Ford PCM and TCM. The main reason being that the stock system would allow the Torque Convertor to unlock when ever you took you foot off the  fuel pedal, allowing the truck to coast for better fuel milage. The B&D module evaluated the conditions, whether you were in Tow/Haul, was the Exhaust Brake engaged and forced the Torque Convertor to stay locked up down to as slow as 25 mph.

Bottom line, Make sure PAC Brake has developed a product for a 6.0L with Auto.  Looking at the current PAC Brake website, they are showing the Tramission controller as being N/A

My product worked very well. I was pulling a 4H with 9'LQ that weighed in around 15,500lbs when loaded.  I remember coming down I-70 from the San Rafael Swell, ( there are 3 runaway truck ramps during that 20 mile stretch) and my exhaust brake held my truck at 55 all the way. The friend riding with me had drivving 18 wheelers and was very impressed at how well my brake worked. I also frequently came off Parleys Summit on I-80 thats a 20+ mile long descent and coming down Daniels Summit on US 40 another 20+ miles descent with 6-7-8% grades. With over 100,000 miles of use, it had not damaged or caused problems with my engine.

PacBrake does make an exhaust brake for the 2006 6.0 Automatic Diesel Transmission from what I gather off their site: http://www.pacbrake.com/uploads/FILES_NEW/PRXB/Ford_NO%20PRICING.pdf

I tend to ask a lot of questions and drive my husband crazy! Just want to make sure that we don't end up paying more money for a ruined engine by having an exhaust brake installed.

I stand corrected.  I was looking at the wrong matrix for the tranmission module.  I just remember that back in 2006 when I bought mine, They didn't have a product.

The BD brake looks to be the safest after some further research. --because of the reasons Painted Horse listed.

I went back to the site I thought I had posted the question (Thedieselstop.com) and couldn't find it. I found several posts stating that it was the hydraulic lifters that were a cause for concern, some saying it was the  VGT, some say the trans was the wink link, but since it (the BD brake) can be set to release pressure before reaching the "red-zone" so to speak, the BD looked to be the best. I couldn't find any dealing with the PacBrake.

There were only less than 10 members that I could find on there that had them installed, and some were giving accounts of friends or parents, and none of them stated any had catastrophic engine failure. However it was recommended that you not use the brake 100% of the time--meaning turn it off when you're not towing. They did say that 100% usage had the POTENTIAL to create problems, but none reported.  

What most guys recommended was what I stated earlier--the SCT tuner with a tow tune from Eric @ Innovative Diesel performance. This tune will add a little power and close the VGT blades and act similarly to an exhaust brake when the Tow/Haul mode switch is turned on. They reported very good results and no engine problems. Tuners can be had for around 300 bucks and the tunes are ~$60-$65.

I don't know how the BD brake compares to the turbo brake function from the tunes.

Good luck!