How hard on the brakes is hard braking?

[belfert]

i leave my jakes hot all the time except when on a long open highway doesn't hurt them and i don't need to look for the switch when trying to slow down

I tend to leave the Jake Brakes off in city driving because so many cities have ordinances against using them.  Heck, even on the open road a lot of counties and cities have rules against them.  Sometimes it almost seems like having Jake Brakes isn't worth it with so many places banning them.

The last thing I need is a ticket for using a Jake Brake in the wrong area.  I've never had a ticket and certainly don't want one for something this silly.

[luvrbus]

i drive with mine on all the time a bus is not like a truck with 7in pipes and no mufflers must buses have good mufflers and sound louder on the inside than the outside i have never heard but one real loud bus and it was and eagle with 6in  pipes if it came down to a ticket or running over someone it would be a ticket for me you can give a lots of space between you and another car and somebody will always pull between you and the next in line

[Dreamscape]

I agree with luvrbus. If we had Jakes on our Eagle and needed to stop fast in an area that banned the use of Jakes, I'd rather have the ticket and be able to stop faster. Good Point.

Paul

Dreamscape

[belfert]

I think most cities have exemptions for emergency use of Jake brakes.  I wouldn't worry about a ticket for emergency use of Jake brakes, but I would worry about a ticket for routine use.  It would be better to have them on all the time than to to try to turn them on in an emergency.

[NJT 5573]

Belfert, I think Jack is right. It is tire smoke.The only other possibility is a bad diaphram on the emergency side of a spring brake can. If that diaphram is blown it will cause that wheel position to drag the brakes to the point of burning your coach to the ground. If its the diaphram, it will leak only with the parking brakes released, so it's not anyone's favorite to check out. A truck has enough air flow to usually not burn. A bus does not. If that diaphram blows and you drive with the brake dragging it will get hot and blow out the tires. Then with you sitting still and no airflow, the tires will start on fire. Then its up to a Fire Dept. to see what you salvage. I have broken in many new 7 inch truck brake shoes and my preference is to run them off the hill and smoke the hell out of them. Run to the next hill and adjust them and smoke the hell out of them again. Most truck shops don't surface drums and unlike buses don't have oversize shoes that I'm aware of. As a driver you won't have good shoe to drum contact patches until you as a driver make them fit. I guess if you glaze a shoe, you can unglaze it next time you use it. I don't think you can tell a difference between a glazed shoe and an unglazed shoe however.... As the new shoe wears to fit the old drum you will notice a difference in stopping power because the slack (distance) between the drum and shoe are increasing and that is why you will have to do frequent brake adjustments or you will soon have no brakes. If you run a Jake on your play bus that runs 10,000 miles a year, you may never seat the shoes to the drums. Since smoking the brakes on a passenger bus to seat the shoes (make the curvature of the shoe the same as the curvature of the drum), may not look good to the public, commercial bus brakes usually get a different approach than trucks do. The drums are heavier, the drums are designed to be turned oversize in 1/8 in increments, ( I think its 1/8), and shoes are available in oversize to give full contact with each size drum hole at rebuild time. If your drums have been turned and had say 3/8 inch of drum removed over the years and your shop replaced your linings with stock shoes for your coach, then you may have a very small contact patch of the shoes touching the drum. If you are really smoking the brakes and not the tires, then this is why. Your first few times down the mountain just might be real exciting!

[belfert]

It may have been tire smoke for all I know.  I just know I braked so hard that smoke was coming out of the wheel wells and the bus smelled bad for a while.

My dina has Q brakes and I was told the drums cannot be resurfaced.  The drums and pads were all replaced.  I have automatic slack adjusters so the brakes should go a while between adjustments.  The brakes were already rechecked once since being replaced.

I guess I won't worry about it since the bus seems to brake fine.  I'll try to leave more room when I do have to drive in rush hour, but too much room just invites cars to pull in front of the bus.

[buswarrior]

Hello.

What might be the differences in stopping distance between Jakes on, and Jakes off?

Not as big as you guys believe, me thinks!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[bus05eagle]

when the jakes are adjusted and maintained right jake brakes make a big difference on my Eagle

[Stan]

If you are locking up the wheels with the brakes, Jakes will not lock them up any tighter.

[DrivingMissLazy]

My experience is that with Jakes adjusted properly they will not come even close to locking up the drive axle, whereas the main brakes will immediately lock up all axles, steer, drive and bogie (tag).

After I installed a good muffler I did leave my Jakes on most of the time while driving in city traffic. They did a good job of regulating the speed somewhat in normal city traffic, but in my opinion were worthless as a means of providing emergency (panic) stopping power. I also do not believe they were ever meant to be used for this requirement.
Richard

[niles500]

I can't have any fun          I have ABS brakes