Jake Brake

For you guys & gals who are knowledgeable about the Jake brake, what happens if a driver forgets to switch off the Jake brake and continues to drive with it on? Does it do any damage? I’ve done it a few times but not for a long distance. I did it today for approximately 5 miles in the second position. I rarely use the third position.

BK, it is actually designed to be on at all times. It isn't harming anything. You can't think of it as a set of brakes on a wheel. It's a total different type of braking system. Even though you have it on, it's not doing anything until you start to decelerate. Then it's activated. We have some great information somewhere showing how a Jake-brake works. I'll see if I can find it and post a link to it.

Here it is...

Jake Brake Operations

There's a lot of information here that you can read, but I think you'll find the video most helpful. You can scroll down until you see the video, then watch it.

Yeah, man. For example, when I'm empty I leave it on level one if there's too much traffic to set cruise control. Maybe I'm lazy but it's easy to just take my foot off the accelerator to slow down when coming up on merging traffic from on-ramps. Also comes in handy to maintain following distance in traffic.

Thanks guys, very useful info and advice.

I just didn’t want to have to put the truck in the shop to get new brake shoes on the Jake’s. Lol

Mine is always on except in snow and slippery conditions. Each truck lines have slightly different mechanics of how it is turned on and off.

In my Kenworths, as soon as the pedal is applied or the cruise is on, the Jake is shut off, even with it in the on position on the stalk. I use the cancel button or tap the service brake to engage it. So it automatically starts Jake braking as soon as it's off cruise. I change the level as needed to suit speed and grade vs weight. I use it extensively in city traffic on the freeway.

In the freightshakers I was in, (a 2020 and 2022) if you turned the Jake on, it will kill the cruise control, so I used it as a cancel button for the cruise. If you hit the accelerator pedal it would turn off the Jake until you release the pedal. Same for international. Volvos if I recall correctly had an auto Jake function. The cruise on the KW will also auto deploy the Jake at plus 5 above set speed. So if cruise is at 65 mph, they will Jake at 70 as well as when a radar threat is present in front.

I can’t remember the last time I turned mine off.

All makes/models are different. On my truck I lift the throttle and it comes on. Simple.

The cruise on the KW will also auto deploy the Jake at plus 5 above set speed. So if cruise is at 65 mph, they will Jake at 70 as well as when a radar threat is present in front.

I know nothing about Peterbilts, but was told that they are like Kenworths because our trucks (my new truck in the picture) have the Paccar engine. I drove it for the first time yesterday a little over 400 mi from the yard to Omaha and the jake brake was just confounding me on when it would kick in and even though I put it in second it really didn't pull the motor down very well unless I was coming up to a stoplight at a slower speed. I'll just have to play around with it and figure this new truck out.

It is pretty, but the driving ability hasn't impressed me too much....It's more noisy than any Freightliner I ran for the past 7.5 years, there's a vibration up front and the air brakes are set off to my right far enough that I have to lean over to pull or push them. It's a 2020 that has only 309,539 mi on it.

Laura

Beautiful rig. I've never driven a Pete yet. As far as I understand they are similar to the KW. Both mine have had Cummins. Both are loud, a lot louder than the other trucks in the fleet. The Jake on mine is very strong. I routinely do colorado passes and rarely have to use past level 2 even fully loaded. But I noticed the tranny will hang up shifting and the Jake won't deploy sometimes if I'm on and off the throttle a lot. It's not an air issue, just the computer not keeping up.

In the next gen t680, for some reason it uses air to shift, so if you're parking somewhere tight thst requires a lot of pull ups, each shift will burn up 10 to 15 psi or so. If it gets below 92 psi on either tank, it won't shift. It's particularly infuriating in a busy tight yard.

Beautiful rig. I've never driven a Pete yet. As far as I understand they are similar to the KW. Both mine have had Cummins. Both are loud, a lot louder than the other trucks in the fleet.

The only KW I drove was back in 88 for May Trucking. This truck is louder than the Freightliners. I need to get this truck washed and get a better picture of it. It is pretty 😍

PackRat drives for this company and sent me a text that the motors are ISX. So on the dash I was going through the different areas and found that it is a 2017 ISX1.

New makes of trucks when you switch from one that you have used for a while, takes a bit of getting used to. I left Omaha this afternoon and going to Edgerton KS where I pick up ATV four wheeler things and they go to Michigan. A bit longer run, so we'll see. I'm sure I'll get used to it before long. I do like that the seats up front are closer together, so I don't have to stretch as far to get my munchies off the other seat. 😁

Laura