Hello! A quick question?????

not so much the jake brake but cruise control never use it on ice or snow covered roads if you lose traction having the cruise set will keep your wheels turning fast and you will end up in the ditch be careful out there

 

A loss of traction on the drives can just as easily cause a jack knife as the trailer locking up. Engine brakes can cause that loss of traction. You seem to worry only about lockups and trailers swinging but it does not take a lockup to jack knife. Lose some drive traction, drives slide to one side, trailer keeps pushing straight and there she goes. Jack knife with no lockup or a trailer swinging around.

 

You wont see that. Liability issues. If Mr Richter uses his jakes, that's his choice. Otherwise, the manufacturer would have found a way to cut the jakes in low traction situations.

I know people have mixed reviews of "IRT". I bought the DVDs to watch over and over again, not for the 'life and death' drama around every corner, but for the little things, like how they set their trucks up. One of the things that I noticed was that in low traction situations, Hugh is always working the hand brake as he drives. Is it right or wrong? Works for him, and he hasn't put one in a ditch yet.

 

I'm all for personal responsibility and choice. However, manufacturers recommendations against using retarder brakes is the aforementioned conditions isn't "BS".

 

I didn't call it BS. Manufacturers also recommend double clutching. Just pointing out that drivers having different ways of doing things. I've used jakes in low traction situations. Is there a chance that using a jake can cause you to jackknife by locking the drives down in low traction? Absolutely!

"Why risk it, then driver?"

Because I would rather the back of the tractor kick sideways than the trailer slide sideways. I'd rather control the tractor with the throttle and the jake than do like Hugh and use the hand brake. Not saying it's the right way...just less scary for me.

 

thanks to all of y'alls advice its really helpfull, y'all be safe

 

well ice i pretty much know about"especially hauling a fuel tanker" because here in southeast texas we do get alot of that , its just the snow and mountains we dont have! lol

 

Why? I do it all the time. Broken traction once. It's safer than stepping on the service brake. Just my opinion.

 

Um, most jackknifes happen when trailer wheels lock. That's why they say if a jack is starting release your brakes. When wheels are locked your trailer kinda hydro planes and looses grip.

 

Here your talking about a tractor jack knife. The drives loose grip, the trailer pushes strait and the truck basically pivots on the steers.

First off, you are far less likely to loose grip using the jake since it is just slowing down your drives. Using brakes could lock your drives. If you do loos grip all you need to do is step in the throttle to match your drive speed to the truck. If your trailer is griping well a little trailer brake can help pull it back in line as well. In all reality if you have a truck induces jack knife, your driving way to fast for conditions. If the trailer maintains grip (just using jake and no trailer brakes), it wont want to slide. If you get your truck to jack from drives sliding out you were driving out of of control.

As for truck manufactures not recommending it, they recommend we don't do a lot of the things we do.