engine brake
 

it's finally happened, i just got a 2007 sterling (daycab) that has an engine brake. i've never had one before, there's no manual, so can someone educate me on it's finer points? i would love to use it on the big hill coming down 380 in pa where it meets 80. it has a high and a low side. in what circumstances do you each side? i know not to use it in a parking lot, but can you engage it and un engage while your doing say...... 70? please feel free to offer up anything on it.


time to sit back and see what pearls of wisdom fredog comes up with :P :mrgreen:

You mean the big hill on 80 where 380 meets 80. Use the high side going down that hill. Nasty hill in the winter, which reminds me, DON'T USE THE JAKE ON SNOW COVERED ROADS!!!!!!!! Unless you want to end up in the median.

yes!! that's the area, from tobyhanna to bartonsville. thanks for the snow advice, i would've thought that would be a perfect time to use it. :oops:

I have been driving Kenworths with engine brakes.

There is really no problem engaging them at any speed. The braking power kicks in when you release the throttle, generally completely.

The best way to see which is best, high or low, is to play with it and see the amount of braking that you get with each.

The only places that you need to be careful in thier use is in slippery conditions, ice, snow, ect. as they can cause the drives to slide, probably more on the high end.
And obviously where ever the road or local government prohibits thier use.

If your truck has a muffler, I wouldn't worry too much about those signs telling you not to use your jake...

With mufflers, they aren't that much louder than the engine is normally...and I personally am NOT going to take a bad law written by a legislature that does not understand that a jake brake is a SAFETY device in a commerical vehicle...and have that law jepordize the safety of myself and everyone else on the road....

Don't use the jake on slippery roads, and don't try to shift gears with the jake on. High side will give you more slowing. Jakes work better at higher rpm's so you still need to be in the right gear going down a hill. With todays engines noise shouldn't be a problem unless you have straight pipes. The old Cummins and V71 Detroits were the ones that were really loud.

why can't u shift with the jakes on? I do it all the time. when I float my foot never comes all the way off the fuel so my jakes don't engage between shifts. some guys let the jakes engage to drop rpms faster to shift faster. so why can't you shift with jakes on?

you can with experience, this guy never used a jake before so I think its good advice not to try it for a while.

thanks silverdragon, i tried them both today and didn't really feel too much of a slow down with the low side, so much so that it seemed almost useless to me. but then again i wasn't under much of a load either.

does using the engine brake affect fuel mileage?

i don't see any circumstance where you would shift with it on, to me the only time i would use it is coming down a big hill, (no shifting there) or a smaller/longer incline with a heavier load and you'd appreciate a little help maintaining a slower speed. don't you then turn it off to run on level ground?

lady.....fredog, lady :P :D :wink:

Boss won't let us use them. He had to replace a couple of the ports on 1 engine last spring and told us to stay off them. Course we're runnin mostly flat country.