I would be most interested to hear of members’ experience with disc-braked trailers.
I gather most people are going back to drums. Are disc brakes that bad?
Your advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks
John
My skellies have discs, and when the trailers come up for renewal, I;ll be looking for drums.
The discs crack quite considerably, but the biggest problem is the ABS exciter ring, the teeth rust and snap off, causing an ABS fault and they are not replacable, so a new disc has to be fitted whether its worn out or not.
I am in favour of discs as we have just sold a five year old fridge with the oridginal discs on it they were SAF they were £600 extra on the trailer when new and we used to run all the time with fish to Vigo and La Coruna so thats a testing route for anything.
The two trailers we have on the international now both have SAF running gear with no problems yet
klunk
I bought my 8 month old Kel-Berg T99 tipping in Oct 2004,it has SAF axles with Wabco “small” disc’s to save weight I surmise.
I had to replace the pads on the mid/rear axles at this time but those pads lasted for approx 18 months but since then I’ve had to replace the pads every 6/8 months.
I don’t think those size of disc’s are suited to my line of work which is alot of start/stop in traffic hauling stone to Belfast docks at 44t gross.
Apart from the heavy pad use they’ve given me no bother but my next trailer will probably have drums.
I used to have drums on the tank trailer I used to pull - very hill/muddy work with high milages. On drums relines were anything from 6 weekly. Discs were better, but the newer larger ones were a good improvement. The smaller ones get too hot and can’t disipate the heat fast enough, hence they crack. Sure on the small ones you could change pads without removing the wheel, but the longer life of the larger diameter discs easily paid for the extra time needed.
Can someone put me right on this??
I am sure I read somewhere in a trade mag that disc trailers have to be ‘matched’ to the unit that is pulling them to get efficient and proper braking? ie the pressures have to be adjusted so as correct pressure going to the trailer else the trailer braking is abysmal.
I only ask as I have been pulling a disc trailer for the last 3 weeks and when fully loaded, I ain’t happy with the braking.
TheBear:
Can someone put me right on this??
I am sure I read somewhere in a trade mag that disc trailers have to be ‘matched’ to the unit that is pulling them to get efficient and proper braking? ie the pressures have to be adjusted so as correct pressure going to the trailer else the trailer braking is abysmal.
I only ask as I have been pulling a disc trailer for the last 3 weeks and when fully loaded, I ain’t happy with the braking.
They should all be cross compatible I think, but I found that my DAF 85 was a lot more brake efficient pulling a trailer with Merc discs and EBS. Whilst my Renault, with Drums on the back 2 axles, was pretty much the same, whatever trailer it pulled.
Back to the original question, If I were buying a new trailer, to work every, I would be looking at disc brakes, but probably only SAF or Merc, as I’m not sure whether Meritor have theirs right yet.
The pro’s for me were, far more efficient braking, and more cost efficient over drums. This was on a Freuhauf, with Merc axles 44t, over 2 years it had 2 sets of pads, and a set of discs (the pads and discs, at the end of the 2nd year, which realistically would have taken it to the end of year 3, it also possibly could have got away with 1 disc, as only 1 was cracked, but we changed them all as a precaution)
Hope this helps
my own opinion is that trailers should be as simple as possible, disks on the unit are a big improvement but on a trailer? don’t really see the point.
just bought a refurb flat with drums n no abs, you get much simpler than that.
paul b:
just bought a refurb flat with drums n no abs, you get much simpler than that.
It must be prehistoric if it doesn’t have any ABS, are you sure you don’t mean that it doesn’t have EBS? 
Paul
1996
paul b:
1996
Woulda thought it would have had the old style abs like
My git posh new one has 
renaultman:
TheBear:
Can someone put me right on this??
I am sure I read somewhere in a trade mag that disc trailers have to be ‘matched’ to the unit that is pulling them to get efficient and proper braking? ie the pressures have to be adjusted so as correct pressure going to the trailer else the trailer braking is abysmal.
I only ask as I have been pulling a disc trailer for the last 3 weeks and when fully loaded, I ain’t happy with the braking.They should all be cross compatible I think, but I found that my DAF 85 was a lot more brake efficient pulling a trailer with Merc discs and EBS. Whilst my Renault, with Drums on the back 2 axles, was pretty much the same, whatever trailer it pulled.
Back to the original question, If I were buying a new trailer, to work every, I would be looking at disc brakes, but probably only SAF or Merc, as I’m not sure whether Meritor have theirs right yet.
The pro’s for me were, far more efficient braking, and more cost efficient over drums. This was on a Freuhauf, with Merc axles 44t, over 2 years it had 2 sets of pads, and a set of discs (the pads and discs, at the end of the 2nd year, which realistically would have taken it to the end of year 3, it also possibly could have got away with 1 disc, as only 1 was cracked, but we changed them all as a precaution)
Hope this helps
RM,
When you say “cracked” is it a single crack that you can plainly see or is it lots of little really small hairline cracks that you can hardly see with the naked eye?
Big Truck:
renaultman:
TheBear:
Can someone put me right on this??
I am sure I read somewhere in a trade mag that disc trailers have to be ‘matched’ to the unit that is pulling them to get efficient and proper braking? ie the pressures have to be adjusted so as correct pressure going to the trailer else the trailer braking is abysmal.
I only ask as I have been pulling a disc trailer for the last 3 weeks and when fully loaded, I ain’t happy with the braking.They should all be cross compatible I think, but I found that my DAF 85 was a lot more brake efficient pulling a trailer with Merc discs and EBS. Whilst my Renault, with Drums on the back 2 axles, was pretty much the same, whatever trailer it pulled.
Back to the original question, If I were buying a new trailer, to work every, I would be looking at disc brakes, but probably only SAF or Merc, as I’m not sure whether Meritor have theirs right yet.
The pro’s for me were, far more efficient braking, and more cost efficient over drums. This was on a Freuhauf, with Merc axles 44t, over 2 years it had 2 sets of pads, and a set of discs (the pads and discs, at the end of the 2nd year, which realistically would have taken it to the end of year 3, it also possibly could have got away with 1 disc, as only 1 was cracked, but we changed them all as a precaution)
Hope this helpsRM,
When you say “cracked” is it a single crack that you can plainly see or is it lots of little really small hairline cracks that you can hardly see with the naked eye?
They were all a bit crazed, but only one was cracked right through 
TheBear:
Can someone put me right on this??
I am sure I read somewhere in a trade mag that disc trailers have to be ‘matched’ to the unit that is pulling them to get efficient and proper braking? ie the pressures have to be adjusted so as correct pressure going to the trailer else the trailer braking is abysmal.
I only ask as I have been pulling a disc trailer for the last 3 weeks and when fully loaded, I ain’t happy with the braking.
Sounds like the load sensing valve could do with some adjustment.
Renaultman said:
They were all a bit crazed, but only one was cracked right through
hmmm, we talking discs here or owner drivers? 
Driveroneuk:
Renaultman said:They were all a bit crazed, but only one was cracked right through
hmmm, we talking discs here or owner drivers?
Very good 
The drum brake is better. Has a bigger surface for brake linings then brake pads, can be leveled two or three specific sizes, the disc ones if you are lucky.
The disc is too exposed, when you brake the disc heats up you drive thru a puddle water splashes on it and the disc cools of too fast and cracks.
But that is just my opinion. By the way I am a truck mechanic and this is my web page (link removed)
I usually spec intarders . . . just a thought
I had a 34000 litre road barrel on SAF discs. You could always rely on stopping it and that was saying something when you are half loaded with juice and someone does something dumb.
For really effective braking you can’t got wrong with discs but they are awful costly to replace. Those SAF pads cost over 300 quid to replace, I think it was way over, actually, and the discs were way over the top on price. Then again, the pads did 2 years and the discs were good for another year I would think.
The other tank had good old ROR drums. I could replace the drums and linings for 300 quid and they were also reliable. More hard work to change though.
Dunno. Over here everything is drum.
I just replaced a set of disc’s/pads on the SAF rear axle of my trailer,they are a make called “Juratek” and the cost was £150 per axle for pads AND disc’s and it took one whole hour 
The trailer does 44t quarry hauling (think all that dust and wheel washes!!) and it was new in Feb 04 and thats the first disc’s I’ve had to replace,at those prices you can take your drums and shove them up your “jacksy”