I would suggest that the most productive use for your comments would be to insist that your state pass an "engine muffler-brake law". this will likely help out your problem. The trucking industry is growing at a rapid pace, because our poulation is doing the same. I'm sure other areas of your life are similarly impacted. I used to get to my warehouse from my house in twenty minutes. Now it takes 35 or 40. I would like to have this inconvenience removed from my life by somebody else, but it is just a product of our growth as a nation.
Peace

I have wondered about that myself even being a driver. I see several possibilities: 1. They think it is a macho way to announce their presence. 2. There leg is so fat and heavy they dont want to make the effort to use the normal brakes. It is flat stupid and inconsiderate to me to use a jake in a residential area. "Preserving the brakes" is pathetic BS excuse only a lazy moron could come up with. Who in hell needs to preserve their brakes in town ? Gives us a bad name and its plain inconsiderate.

Was cruising one day on my way to St. Louis with my Trainer. Couple trucks passed us and the last pete had 13' stacks pinched at the ends only about an inch hole left. He let off the gas and wow that thing just screamed, was the loudest thing I have ever heard. Trainer just laughed an said what a #######.

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Keep them wheels a spinnin, and the beavers grinnin, IM GONE!!! East bound and down..............

Long time since a post been made but I do have a story to tell that will enlighten this person on why Jake Brakes should be used.

I drove for a small Company in Georgia, I was assign a truck that did not have Jake Brakes. I had this haul I was on twice and it carried me down a mountain in western North Carolina on US 441.

Both trips I did lose my brakes coming down the Mountain. To prevent a fire, I kept moving letting the air cool the brakes, but I had to play the Hills to slow down and then watch the lights ahead of me. Yes Coming into Franklin, NC. It did not take long before I had my brakes back, but it was a scary ordeal. One trip I made it down within 20 miles of the Drop, still the brakes were touchy but would stop me. I had a JB Hunt pull out in front of me, I put the load Steel Coils through the Front of the trailer about an inch. If JB done that 50 miles sooner, I'll had gone through his Trailer. Not really smart on my part either.. But if I had a Jake Brake on that truck, I could have had them to use instead of losing my brakes coming down that Mountain.

You remind me of these idiots who always leave them on and while accelerating from a stop they let off the accelerator too quick and the jake comes on, makes it hard to get a gear, huh. I don't understand drivers who always keep them on. It is not that hard to raise that right arm and flip the dang switch. I see it as laziness.

The only thing you can do in a situation like that is turn on the flashers, shift WAY down, and crawl down that hill. It's always better to do it too slow, and live to do it again.

I feel one of the first things rookies should be taught is how to descend mountains the old fashioned way, meaning without the engine brake. It's always either the cowboys, or the new guys, that wind up killing themselves on mountains.

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Z-Lady's devoted hubby.

Well that what I always tried to do, Just by the time I got to the bottom I had smoke coming out from the brakes, and gotten up to 45MPH at the bottom. Either that Blow the engine due to going way over RPM's. At the bottom of the Mountain, there was a small Hill I used to slow me back down, and I would then go no faster than 35 in a 55 to cool the brakes. What I should have done was take the longer way around. Taken I 75 to I 85..
As I said I was not perfect, and never would claim I was. I listen to the older and more experenced Drivers and learn from my mistakes...

I already had Blew the engine due to it's over heating, which was NOT my fault. I told the Shop it was running hot and they said No it's fine, it suppose to. After it blew, and they repaired it, I did not get down the road 5 miles and it blew again, same reason. Just a messed up truck. What can I say, it was an Ex Swift Truck. Left because of the Truck, not pay nor the company it's self beside not moving me into a better truck.. More about the Company later.

I like the Company for when I was able to run, I made money. Even got paid to drive the truck home for the weekend.

You're still starting and taking the descent in too high a gear. if you did it right there should be no smoke (or smell) whatsoever.

Here, let me explain it this way. I once came back from PA with a load of class 8 (corrosive) hazmat, bulk shipments of which are prohibited from traveling through the Allegheny Tunnel on the PA Turnpike. So I came down off the mountain on US 30. That hill is a 9% grade for about 6 miles. The speed limit may have been 55 (20 for trucks), but that didn't matter to me, not with 20k (each) in 2 trailers.

I made that descent in 4th gear (out of 10), at 12 mph all the way to the bottom with flashers on. I let it roll enough to rev it up to just shy of redline, then applied the brakes for about 3 seconds. This slowed the truck about 4 or 5 mph, and repeated that process all the way down.

Granted, it took longer than it would have had I been equipped with an engine brake, maybe a half hour, but that's the way it had to be done, and the brakes didn't fade in the least. Most importantly, I'm here now to do it again if I so desire.

That's doing it the "old-fashioned" way. Like I said, the ones that always wound up killing themselves were the the rookies that didn't know any better, or the idiots that decided to get impatient and tried to hurry things up. Then the truck starts to get away from them, and they're no longer able to control their descent.

Now, there are things you can do in the absence of an engine brake to help you. Turn your A/C on, whether you feel like you need to or not . If you have a fan override switch, turn it on. The idea here is to increase the load on the engine to keep the engine speed down, which consequentially will help to keep your travel speed down as well.

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Z-Lady's devoted hubby.

Ok Thanks. I'm no longer Dirving due to an early force retirement. Medical Problems. Least others will see and learn and that's what I hope to do here is help others learn from my experences and just to read what going on.

I've had to do that on I 17 headed south out of Flagstaff. I had slowed way down but not nearly enough for a truck with no jakes. The brakes got hot, and I was looking for the place to dive it off the road that would hurt the least. Its a bad feeling when your brake pedal is on the floor and very little is happening.


I agree rookies should be taught how to do that. What are you going to do if your jakes malfunction????? and don't know how to desend a hill the old way?