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

What AfterShock said....

 

If it causes tremendous damage to the engine, why would every diesel engine manufacturer include them on commercial vehicles?????

 

And on the new HD pickups. I figure if they damage your engine, then you've got a junk engine.

 

I agree with some of the guys above...I ALWAYS use my jake's... For several reasons... to save my brakes, to the "sudden" slowing effect without coming to a stop, slowing without mashing my brakes (which is rare if you leave enough following distance). I ignore every "law" I see in the cities/towns when it comes to the restriction of the jake brake! I would rather have a ticket for using my jake then to have my steers in the back window of some idiot that decided it was a good idea to pull out in front of an 80,000 lb vehicle moving at hwy speeds! Sorry sir, but your just going to have to get over it! Plain and simple! Complain all you want but 99.9999% of us are going to choose safty over the fear of your complaint! FYI- I do agree that some of the trucks out there have excessively LOUD jakes...really no need in all of that although....it's an awesome sound to hear!

 

what damage is done,,is turning your engine at 3000 rpm,coming down a hill,the damage is already done,,,bearings,crankshaft ,rods,,through the block,,and the driver says"it happened when i turned on my jakes" about a $30,000 repair(replacement),,,gotta use brakes too

 

Pretty much sums up the proper use of a jake brake.

 

When I got my CDL, I started tuggin tanks {kind of stupid giving a newbie 40k of flammable liquid; but take that up with the Co.} I was rolling thru the lovely area know as Coraopolis, Pa {north of Pitt} with 5-8% grades thru some of the towns and "NO ENGINE RETARDERS PERMITTED" posted with 38k of fuel additive. So as a new driver I turned off my jakes going thru this town with posted 35mph and a 6% grade of winding single lane each way snubbing my brakes as trained. Well about 1/2 way down this lovely piece of tar I noticed smoke coming from my rear tandems, had to stop on not much of a shoulder to cool my brakes and cause other trucks to slow or cut into oncoming traffic. After I got them to stop smoking and cool enough to do what they had to I turned my jakes back on. If anyone complained my response was "would you like to hear the noise of this or have my load blowing up on your road possibly destroying your little stone front cottage and killing your family?" So Jakes are a need addition to these trucks unless you want some newly licensed driver that might not look for smoking brakes and having a load of god knows what chemical base
burning/blowing up in your backyard? I would learn to deal with the noise as most drivers like many before me had stated use them when needed for a safety aspect and not to spite the neighbors of the town we're rolling through.

 

What would you have done if you drove a truck back in the 70's when MOST trucks didn't hhave Jake Brakes?


Maybe learn how to drive a truck?

 

That situation, you ignore the 35 mph sign and drop a couple more gears and crawl down about 15-20 mph. If you can't use your Jakes, use your gears and slower speed. The best way to cool brakes is to keep driving without using them. You stop and all that heat radiates out the wheels towards the tires. Many think about wind feeding a wood fire. Your cooling metal and asbestos and wind is your friend.

 

hmm.. my jakes don't work.. they come on, and there's a little rumble and what not.. but it doesn't do anything.. so i just use low gears..