What's the proper way to use the jake brake

[JimT]

I have my engine brake set for a 2 or 3 second delay. lets me back out of the throttle or move my right foot around without the system engaging. I personally do not like the engine brake engaging when I shift, especially with 3 different levels, since it changes the shift timing. I guess if you only used one level and practiced power shifting then it would work, but since I own the equipment I no longer want to beat up my engine and transmission by hammering it. I also tend to be really light on the accelerator, so when i climb grades I'm in lower gears only pushing 10-15 psi boost, 22 psi max to maintain a speed/rpm. I actually use the engine brake to slow me down more than my foundation brakes. Coming up on 2 years since my rear brakes were replaced and they still have a long way to go. Front brakes have not been replaced in the 2 years I've owned the truck and they too have lots of life left.

As for protecting the engine, I always leave the engine brake off until the engine is up to full operating temp. I try to run it on the lowest setting for my present load that will control my speed. As for switching from heavy engine load to engine braking, I tend to roll out of the throttle as I'm cresting a hill and let the rpm's drop pretty low (with no engine load/boost) then let gravity speed me back up down the other side. By the time I need to engage the engine brake some time has passed for things to cool off.

As for a 30 second delay, I don't think I could work with that big of a gap. I'd probably be downshifting by the 10 second mark (or sooner) and the accelerator usage would reset the timer. Not to mention the rare times when you need the combined power of engine braking and foundation braking for a sudden deceleration. 30 seconds would be 15 seconds too long, in my opinion.

Recently I've also begun turning the engine brake off completely when I'm empty or bobtail, or really really light load. No sense putting wear on a system when it's not actually needed. When I was a young kid, constantly touching everything, my grandpa used to tell me that every switch can only be turned on/off so many times before it breaks. While he was mainly trying to get me to stop turning lights on/off, I found as an adult that it's very good advice for reducing maintenance intervals.

Just my 2 cents...