ELI5. What’s the point of a Jake Brake?

Question

Couldn’t you just put the truck in neutral and use the regular brakes?

In: 16

Answer 1

# ELI5

> Couldn’t you just put the truck in neutral and use the regular brakes?

Yep. You could do that!

But those regular brakes get HOT the more you use them.

And the hotter they get, the less well they work.

You don’t want to brake during an entire 2-mile hill, because your brakes will overheat and won’t work well at all!

So how else can you slow down the vehicle?

The Jake Brakes also slow you down, but they don’t use the regular brakes. They use the engine to do the braking.

And Jake Brakes don’t overheat like regular brakes do.