Forum Discussion

holstein13's avatar
holstein13
Explorer
Aug 08, 2015

Jake brake on or off driving on flats or small hills?

One of the debates we had this week was whether you should drive with your Jake Brakes on or off while on flat land or small hills. Everyone agreed that you should use them in the mountains or steep grades.

But what about hills and flats? The tire and brake instructor said we should not use them because the brakes need a workout to prevent glazing and if you always use the Jake Brakes, you won't automatically adjust your slack adjusters.

The engine guy said that the latest evidence from Cummins suggested that the Jake Brakes helped keep the turbo chargers clean. He recommended leaving it on.

Do any of you have an opinion?
Class A
  • pulsar's avatar
    pulsar
    Explorer
    Aug 08, 2015
    On our previous coach, the computer was reprogrammed so that the exhaust brake came on only if one touched the brake pedal (and the switch was on). The exhaust brake was released when the accelerator was pressed.

    Our current coach is programmed in the usual fashion, but I'll have it reprogrammed next week.

    I also like the coasting gear.

    Tom
  • Sprink-Fitter's avatar
    Sprink-Fitter
    Explorer
    Aug 08, 2015
    wolfe10 wrote:
    Leaving on either an exhaust or engine compression brake 100% of the time is a good way to not use my favorite gear-- COASTING.

    Particularly in rolling hills, it is much better for MPG to coast down the hill and gain a little speed to attach the next upgrade than to use your brakes going down and then have to go to WOT going up.

    Stop and go traffic or technical driving brings on different priorities.


    Are you really that cheap that you would actually coast downhill to save gas ?
  • wolfe10's avatar
    wolfe10
    Explorer
    Aug 08, 2015
    Leaving on either an exhaust or engine compression brake 100% of the time is a good way to not use my favorite gear-- COASTING.

    Particularly in rolling hills, it is much better for MPG to coast down the hill and gain a little speed to attach the next upgrade than to use your brakes going down and then have to go to WOT going up.

    Stop and go traffic or technical driving brings on different priorities.
  • cvbdsl's avatar
    cvbdsl
    Explorer
    Aug 08, 2015
    How about 50/50?
    Not trying to be a smart @** but I find that I do toggle mine off and on depending on traffic and roads/terrain. I definitely like to use just the foot brake in stop and go traffic, for highway I usually set it to use the engine brake.
    I also follow the recommended process for testing brakes and have (not always but often) measured my slack adjusters to ensure that they have the proper travel.

    Chris

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