jake brakes; when to use them, when not to

I disagree. Jakes slow the vehicle, so I will use them most every where I go. On newer engines, they are so quiet that you can not hear them. Many transit authorites with motor coaches, like New Jersey Transit, are equipped with jake brakes and they use them for various reasons. With an Allison automatic, they are a joy, in fact many times if you plan correctly you can slow the vehicle with out ever touching the service brakes.

 

I hear that using them too much causes valve damage or so

 

Keep pressure on the brakes all the way down a long grade??????????? Yikes....

 

I'm being taught to leave it on for the most part so that you have that much extra braking power and I haven't found any reason to disagree. If I think it is going to bother someone (and I don't need it on) I try and remember to switch it off.

 

Either turn it on when shifting, or put your foot lightly on the clutch while shifting to disable it. Say you are going from 3rd to 4th.....Light pressure on the clutch, go to neutral, foot off the clutch and hit 4th.

 

I hate this cascadia because the clutch doesn't turn the jakes off, I have to remember to hit the button on the steering wheel to turn them off and on.

 

I've only been driving for about 18 months but I've found that using the jake, when needed, works best for me too.

Strangely enough, though, I haven't found much need for it in truckstops!

 

If you ease up on the go peddle and not remove the foot from it the jake won.t come on while you grind gears, theres no reason to touch the clucth inless youre starting or coming to a full stop, now when I roll into a ts late at night I always turn off mr jake, mainly cause it doesn.t mix that well with my trsin horn that,i lay on to wake everybody up in hopes that someone will move there rig so I can get a good spot, I kind of course its not.really.a train horn there just the horn my yruck came with.

 

i only turn my jake off running threw towns, and in bad weather, my truck is muffled and the jakes are not obnoxiously loud but ill take any help i can get slowing down over 100k normaly i can drive with using the service breaks very little

 

My boss said run em cause it'll save me money so I do. Plus when Im coming up a back road and Ms. Daisy pulls out in front of me I can down shift using the jakes while braking and stop a whole lot faster. And if I rev up all the way and maybe drop 2 gears it scares the heck outa Ms. Daisy.

However to get away from the safety, practical, cost efficient reasons for the Jacobs Brake. It just makes me feel so much like a bad ***.