the unnecessary usage of j-brakes, why????

Where's Tim the toolman.....yeah!!

Sorry, this thread got side-tracked!! I feel that 'jaking' (unmuffled esp.) while going thru small town main streets at night is totally unnecessary! Engine brakes are to save brakes while carrying loads over hilly terrain---don't 'need' most other times & notices by trk manufacturers say 'not to be used bobtail!' ...all other uses are WRONG!!

 

I'm not a driver yet but should be joining the ranks shortly. I have,however, always been a biker. It seems the only real issue with the use of jakes is not the use but the abuse by some. I have straight pipes on my Harley, not a big deal apparently, no complaints from the neighborhood. Now if I were to throttle up two blocks before the house and then throttle down sharply just before the driveway everybody in a six block radius would miss the "revelation of the killer" on their favorite show. It is behavior like that which has caused the crack down on straight pipes in Daytona during bike week. On a side note, it's still funny to me that with all the big scarey bikers in town that week little old ladies can still be seen walking their dogs at 10pm.

 

Even a big bike sounds cool, 'glubbling', as it idles thru an area...yeah!

 

. when jakes are used to show off or look cool while drivin in town or in a parking lot I can see your point but they are a necessary tool for operating a commercial vehical on the highway.

 

Has anyone mentioned the use of a jake to assist shifting a super 10? With the Jake on even the lowest setting, you can shift a super 10 faster. This effectively improves your "get out of the way" time in the city. It's also a great asset during hill climbing because it drops the engine rpm fast enough to grab the next gear on the way up. Of any truck I've driven having a jake system, the only ones that present anything more than a subtle change in exhaust tone/sound, are the ones with defective mufflers & no mufflers. The rest of the trucks were most innocuous in both city & hiway driving. I haven't seen where removing the muffler(s) has really offered a OTR truck any true improvement in horsepower or torque. I suppose it's possible with the largest of OTR engines. But anything under a 600 hasn't been shown, at least to me, that it's horsepower ratings improve that drastically w/o a muffler. And, having been there & done that, I much prefer retaining my sanity & my hearing over a 8-10 period by having a decent muffler or two. It's fun once but open stacks get old really, really quickly. Like in 15 mins I'd say.

 

the 8inch straight pipes on our 625 cat is the sound that i like to hear but dont get me wrong when the time is right of course when we go through the small towns of pa we turn it off to not annoy the people..."common sense" but when going down the highway its alot eaiser on the brakes and truck like previously stated

 

well, you've identified both reason for your irritation
- you do live near a place that faster trucks will use the jake brake, a curve in the interstate. Some drivers just don't think of it as we are out there on the concrete and not particularly aware of communities on the other side of the trees. The jake, if on, will activate when a driver simply lifts off the accelerator, so it doesn't neccessarily mean he is speeding, just that he runs with the jake on.
I've seen in Utah the prohibition especially along exit ramps, and I think that is fair, but telling trucks not to use a safety device while they are on the interstate is pretty much discrimination (where are the cops when the kid with the trunk sized woofers comes down my street at 10pm?).
- the other reason is that there ARE drivers who are simply inconsiderate. Belive it or not, some will drive through a truckstop at 2am and not blink when their jake BRACKKKKKKKKKSSSSSSS, as they round a corner at 15mph at the end of the lot. So we drivers are victim of them as well.

Years ago I was with a volunteer fire department responding to plane crashing into a house. Later that year the neighbors were petitioning the AIRPORT to stop using the runway. Um, people, YOU built the house at the end of the runway! Sorry, but people who buy next to an interstate HAVE to know they will be subject to traffic noises. And a jake is better than an 18-wheeler veering through your living room followed by fire department sirens!
I'd suggest you petition local officials to install noise barriers.
FYI - I am sympathetic to you, I recently bought a rural plot of land but it is a mile as the crow flies from the juntion of I-24 and 59 in NE Georgia, the only noise to disturb the peaceful sounds of birds and falling acrons? The jake brakes.

 

I have a different opinion on this subject than most. Maybe it's because I never went to CDL school and was taught to drive by the old timers back in 1978. I never use the engine brake unless I'm going down a grade. I'm a relaxed driver and I don't need to shift faster or stop harder by using the jake. Before I retired just about all of my driving was in the city and was with an over loaded truck and trailer (Super Tanker) but I've been down many hills in my time driving. And most of the time it was with a permitted heavy load.

Any one remember the grade going down into Laughlin NV on hyw 163 before they made it a divided road? I know it was more than 7% it some places. Try that with 110,000lbs on. I never smoked the brakes and I've even come down without an engine brake. I've hauled special heavy equipment for the government all over the states and sometimes I've had a jake and sometimes I didn't. The whole point is to know how to come down the grades without heating your brakes so hot they smoke or worse crack the drum.

I really don't think that using the jake to stop all the time is really going to save that much brake. But that's my opinion and I judge that on relaxed driving that all our drivers use. I know Texaco used this theory on their trucks in Las Vegas for awhile and set them to be on all the time but then took them off.

The one point that was discussed was the company not letting their new drivers have engine brakes. I kinda of agree with this one on two points. 1) What happens if the engine brake goes out and this driver has never been down a grade without one? (and they do go out) 2) What's going to happen the first time this new driver is on ice and his engine brakes comes on? I agree with this program if the company is teaching their drivers safety and why they don't have the engine brake. If the company takes it out for any other reason then I think that would be stupid.

BTW The name Jake brake is slang and comes from one manufacture "Jacobs". The correct term is engine brake or retarder.