Jake Brakes. GOTTA HATE 'EM.
I love my new house, but there's one thing that pisses me off: I moved sorta close to an intersection on a major interstate. The road noise is not loud. It's actually kinda a nice ambient sound.... But every morning, I am woken up by
BLULULULULULULULULULUUUUUU... Reen reeen reeeeeen! BLULULULULULULULULULULUUUUUUU..... Reen reen reeeeeeeeeeen! BLU LU LU LU LU....LU.....LU.
If you know what a jake brake is, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. If you don't, a jake brake is a wonderful device the big rigs (18 wheelers, whatever you want to call them) have. Basically, you know how you can downshift in a manual and let off the clutch to slow you down? You're letting the vacuum of the engine slow you. Well, These big diesels have a little extra in this department. same basic idea, except it's kinda "turbo-charged" in reverse. They modify the valve timing, creating high backpressure to use the engine compression to actually slow the pistons. --And it exhausts out the pipes basically unmuffled, and at a velocity that makes it pop VERY loudly with each puff.
And I've been told that they don't even slow the trucks down very much. --That basically the only reason most truckers use them is to show off how sweet their loud custom pipes are. --Kinda like how Harley riders get the loudest exhaust possible. These guys are blasting their jake brakes because, for some strange reason, they think it impresses people. How inconsiderate, as they can OBVIOUSLY see they are passing a residential area. Generally, they're pretty good about it at night, but once the sun comes up, I guess they figure it's fair game.
P.S.- The person who told me the real low-down on jake brakes is a trucker, from a family of truckers.
Ricky
DesignDawg
[Edited to describe how JB's work a little better]
I love my new house, but there's one thing that pisses me off: I moved sorta close to an intersection on a major interstate. The road noise is not loud. It's actually kinda a nice ambient sound.... But every morning, I am woken up by
BLULULULULULULULULULUUUUUU... Reen reeen reeeeeen! BLULULULULULULULULULULUUUUUUU..... Reen reen reeeeeeeeeeen! BLU LU LU LU LU....LU.....LU.
If you know what a jake brake is, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. If you don't, a jake brake is a wonderful device the big rigs (18 wheelers, whatever you want to call them) have. Basically, you know how you can downshift in a manual and let off the clutch to slow you down? You're letting the vacuum of the engine slow you. Well, These big diesels have a little extra in this department. same basic idea, except it's kinda "turbo-charged" in reverse. They modify the valve timing, creating high backpressure to use the engine compression to actually slow the pistons. --And it exhausts out the pipes basically unmuffled, and at a velocity that makes it pop VERY loudly with each puff.
And I've been told that they don't even slow the trucks down very much. --That basically the only reason most truckers use them is to show off how sweet their loud custom pipes are. --Kinda like how Harley riders get the loudest exhaust possible. These guys are blasting their jake brakes because, for some strange reason, they think it impresses people. How inconsiderate, as they can OBVIOUSLY see they are passing a residential area. Generally, they're pretty good about it at night, but once the sun comes up, I guess they figure it's fair game.
P.S.- The person who told me the real low-down on jake brakes is a trucker, from a family of truckers.
Ricky
DesignDawg
[Edited to describe how JB's work a little better]
but do you have a .wav? I can't quite get the idea of it.
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