When to use a jake brake

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Barnibus, those guys are jerks, there is no need for that.  :mad: The new trucks are much quieter but occasionally some cowboy in an old Kenworth with straight pipes has to hit the jake at 70 miles an hour as he passes the hotel at the north end of town. I drove a Ram with the Pacbrake, it was nice.
 
Both the Pac Brake in our older Windsor and the Jake Brake in our current Executive are quiet.  As others said, it's the semis that are noisy.  Like Gary said, not relevant to our motorhomes.

ArdraF
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Yes. Leave it on all the time unless there is a specific situation where it is not desirable. Slippery roads is the primary concern, where the driver needs to be ultra-cautious about braking to avoid skids. Manual control rather than automatic braking is the safest method there.  Otherwise, many drivers find the automatic engine braking to be irritating on stop & go traffic or rolling hills, where the coach is frequently accelerating and decelerating and thus cycling the Jake brake on & off. It's not hurting anything (except maybe fuel economy), but a flip of the switch removes the irritating effect.
Click to expand...

Ditto to what Gary said.  I didn't learn to use this brake until my second trip.  Now it's on almost exclusively except in the conditions Gary mentioned.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. It is an engine exhaust brake and not a Jake brake but from what I?m reading it won?t make much difference.

Thanks again
Robin
 
Roadhappy said:
Thanks for all the feedback. It is an engine exhaust brake and not a Jake brake but from what I?m reading it won?t make much difference.

Thanks again
Robin
Click to expand...

Engine exhaust brake and Jake brake are one of the same.  Some still refer to engine exhaust brake as Jake Brake, because Jake was the original engine exhaust brake, like Xerox in the copy world.
 
Gizmo said:
Engine exhaust brake and Jake brake are one of the same.  Some still refer to engine exhaust brake as Jake Brake, because Jake was the original engine exhaust brake, like Xerox in the copy world.
Click to expand...
Not really. Although Jacobs does make an exhaust brake, the term Jake Brake came about for their compression release engine brakes, which are different. They use different mechanisms, compression release vs exhaust blocking. The compression release type has been more effective when comparing the one of each that I've had.

Of course both are diesel engine brakes, but they use opposite techniques.
 
Roy M said:
Barnibus, those guys are jerks, there is no need for that.  :mad: The new trucks are much quieter but occasionally some cowboy in an old Kenworth with straight pipes has to hit the jake at 70 miles an hour as he passes the hotel at the north end of town. I drove a Ram with the Pacbrake, it was nice.
Click to expand...

Oh, I know. It really is the exhaust system that determines the kind of noise that you get out of the system when the back off.
Most of the trucks coming through are cowboy truckers hauling Cattle, and petro suppliers on this road.

 
 
Larry N. said:
Not really. Although Jacobs does make an exhaust brake, the term Jake Brake came about for their compression release engine brakes, which are different. They use different mechanisms, compression release vs exhaust blocking. The compression release type has been more effective when comparing the one of each that I've had.

Of course both are diesel engine brakes, but they use opposite techniques.
Click to expand...

That is true but Jake brake is commonly used by many when referring to engine braking for diesel engines.  The end results are essentially the same, given the difference in technology to get there, but for the lay person with little or no interest in the how it works the Jake brake moniker is a fair one.
 
Gizmo said:
That is true but Jake brake is commonly used by many when referring to engine braking for diesel engines.  The end results are essentially the same, given the difference in technology to get there, but for the lay person with little or no interest in the how it works the Jake brake moniker is a fair one.
Click to expand...
While it's true that a lot of folks (not everybody) refer to all engine brakes as Jake brakes, that doesn't make them "one of the same." Some people refer to all light aircraft as Cubs, Piper Cubs or Cessnas, but that doesn't make it so. And the differences can sometimes be important. 'nuff said...
 
As I had the misfortune to experience a true "panic brake" situation on I-5 just outside of Los Angeles, I can tell you that if the need arises and a panic brake situation occurs, you will not have the time to reach down and hit the button.  Mine is on 99% of the time, set to high.  If I didn't have the compression brake on high, brake system on the Jeep, and good brakes on the RV, neither the wife or I would be here to talk about it. 
 
While it's true that a lot of folks (not everybody) refer to all engine brakes as Jake brakes, that doesn't make them "one of the same." Some people refer to all light aircraft as Cubs, Piper Cubs or Cessnas, but that doesn't make it so. And the differences can sometimes be important. 'nuff said...
Click to expand...
And all motorhomes are "Winnebagos".  ;)

But many folks also call all facial tissues "Kleenex" and all cola drinks "Coke", so you need to make allowances in conversation. 
 
I keep ours off.  The new FL Drivetech System has the 3 levels of engine brake right below the steering wheel (along with the gear change knob) at a very easy to reach location and I do use the engine brake often
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,635 (members: 27, guests: 1,608)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,977
Posts
1,388,574
Members
137,726
Latest member
CampMike2270
Back
Top Bottom