Hydraulic Trailer Brakes – Drum Brake-to-Disc Brake Conversion

There are two basic varieties of hydraulic trailer brakes normally observed on trailers: Drum brakes and Disc brakes. Drum brakes are an more mature style and use a hydraulically actuated wheel cylinder to drive a pair of spring loaded brake “shoes” versus the interior braking area of brake drum, which also functions as the hub.

Disc brakes use a hydraulic actuation of a piston in the caliper to force the pads to close (pinch) the two sides of the rotor. This is a more recent layout found on most modern day vehicles.

Disc brakes have a several advantages around drum.
1) Improved halting electricity
2) No adjustment needed to compensate for shoe don
3) Easy pad substitution
4) A lot less intricate – no springs
5) For boat trailers, minimized incidence of corrosion

They appear in two fundamental styles: Vented and Non-vented. Vented rotors are chosen because they are inclined to dissipate heat improved than non-vented rotors, minimizing a primary induce for failure.

For boat trailers, corrosion brought about by immersion in clean or salt h2o is normally a most important problem. The salt water can also trigger issues when salt crystallizes in the relocating parts of the caliper and on the caliper pins. The disc obtainable these days, come in either powder coated for common use, silver cadmium plated for regular salt-drinking water use or stainless steel for extended saltwater use.

To begin the conversion from drum to disc, it is most effective to start at the front of the trailer. The Hydraulic actuator, (surge or electric powered/ hydraulic) will will need to be possibly modified or modified out to a person that is built for disc brakes. The disc brake actuator will have an outlet brass fitting with a larger sized aperture (5/32″) and the check out valve discovered in the drum brake actuator will be absent. Disc brakes have to have additional flow of brake fluid than drum brakes.

Due to the fact disc brakes are not built with the (totally free-backing) element, a method to lock out the brake traces will be expected. This can be accomplished by installing either an electric lockout solenoid or a mechanical manual ball valve positioned in the brake line.

The disc brake calipers involve a versatile brake line main into the piston to perform thoroughly. Inspect your brake line and set up if essential.

Safely jack up and block your trailer. Take away the tire / rim assembly. Clear away the old brake drum and the brake assembly. The brake assembly is fixed to the axle brake flange with 4 or 5 bolts.

The new disc brake assembly will have a bracket, caliper, rotor and mounting hardware bundled. Typical actions to make the conversion are as follows.
Action 1: mount the bracket to the axle flange.
Stage 2: put together and slide the rotor on to the axle spindle and lock in area. Observe conventional exercise to set the bearings.
Step 3: The caliper will then sit on the rotor and be fastened to the bracket with “slider pins”. Read your assembly recommendations ahead of beginning the set up.