Questions on disc brake conversion

[jleonard]

Warped rotors can happen in certain situations.
For example coming down an exit ramp off the expressway and going thru an icy puddle when the rotors are hot. (glad I live in Florida now lol)
Or with lower quality aftermarket parts.
My son has an automotive repair shop and he skims every rotor because sometimes even good quality parts come in slightly warped. He doesn't get complaints since he started doing that.

Happy to hear that they don't have that tendency. Thanks!!

[jleonard]

While I don't have test numbers, my 21bhe came with drum brakes. When I had to replace a bent axle I went ahead and upgraded to eoh disc brakes and I can say for certain there is a night and day difference in how well the trailer brakes work.

I'm just starting to look into them now. Thanks.

[geotex1]

I don't know much about trailer disc brakes.
Do the rotors tend to warp fairly easily like they do on cars and trucks?
Can you feel it in the truck when they start to warp? (if they do)
Thanks

Generally, rotors warp because of mismatch of friction material to the cast rotor. The biggest American chain brake shop scam is lifetime brakes because they use friction material that eats and overheats the castings. So friction material is covered in that deal but rotors and labor to R&R them is not!

No issues at all with my Kodiaks and I've had a few panic stops!

[315RLTSinPA]

I have a 315RLTS with the Titan brakes. The trailer brakes can stop the trailer and truck on their own. It's nice to know in a panic stop, you're going to stop.

[AZMike]

Me, being a brake mechanic in a prior life, just want to point out that warped rotors and pad deposits are not the only problems. Rotors develop "hot spots" that will chatter due to overheating, and you will feel it when you step on the brakes. We just returned from a 10,000 mile trip and I just ordered a Power Stop Z36 kit (along with some suspension parts for my truck, as those long declines are killer. Also, you cannot "turn" or "resurface" a rotor with hot spots, as the metal is over tempered and the chattering will soon return.

[geotex1]

Me, being a brake mechanic in a prior life, just want to point out that warped rotors and pad deposits are not the only problems. Rotors develop "hot spots" that will chatter due to overheating, and you will feel it when you step on the brakes. We just returned from a 10,000 mile trip and I just ordered a Power Stop Z36 kit (along with some suspension parts for my truck, as those long declines are killer. Also, you cannot "turn" or "resurface" a rotor with hot spots, as the metal is over tempered and the chattering will soon return.

Yep, and also the result of inferior casting and more frequent than ever with so much impurities resulting from the recycled content... I'm might know where the casting houses get their greensand.

[SolarPoweredRV]

I read over some of the posts regarding the disc brake conversion, which I had planned to do until recently.

When researching the applicable kit for my twin 6000 pound Lippert axles I really liked the way Titan and Kodiak use standard GM brake pads and components. However, my concern arose when looking at the cross reference sheet from Kodiak, the GM brake calipers and pads are for a Chevy Caprice application, my concern is how well does a braking system designed for a 3400 pound car work on my 9500 pound GD 315RLTS? In my opinion the brakes are undersized from the factory as it is and the aftermarket conversion disc brake kits match the specifications of the factory GD brake system.

I fully understand all the benefits of a disc brake system, as long as it is properly sized for the weight it needs to stop.

Has anyone actually conducted a back to back test with a properly adjusted OEM drum setup and than with the disc brake conversion measuring stopping distance? For example at 25 mph with three stops on each setup did you experience a shorter stopping distance?

Feedback regarding actual performance would be greatly appreciated. I was very close to making my purchase until I dug deeper.

Thank you, Saldog

There are videos where they use only the trailer brakes to stop a truck and trailer with both Magnetic Drum and Disc brakes (no truck brakes at all). The stopping distance was reduced by 50% with the disc brakes.

I think you are over analyzing the brake pads and calipers and the weight of the car these components come from. The Disc brakes are more than capable of stopping your rig quicker than you can currently stop it now.

I purchased my Disc Brakes from Bill at StopYourTrailer.com and the service was excellent. In my case, I was able to upgrade to the 8k brakes and rotors instead of the 7k brakes for only a modest up-charge, perhaps a similar upgrade is available for your camper.

I will tell you from personal experience that these Disc Brakes Work. Shortly after installing our Disc Brakes, I was forced to perform a "FULL-ON" Emergency stop and I swear I could not have stopped any sooner even if I hadn't been pulling the camper. The Disc Brakes performed that well !!!!!

The Disc Brakes work and you will not regret upgrading.

[toolman.dustin]

Nothing wrong with digging in but you're taking yourself along the path missing the primary point. The contact area between disc brake and drum brakes is significantly greater for disc. This is why disc can be physically smaller. The clamping force is enormous, especially at 1600 psi at full bore. Being an engineer and gearhead lifer, I don't need G-pad testing to tell me the improvement, and I certainly wouldn't subject my coach to it. However, it's absolutely there, major improvement, saved us twice and made every cent of my investment and time worth it! My coach is significantly heavier than yours as well. The other benefits are simple visual inspection at any time, you will not get grab like heated shoes, and electric over hydraulic!

In addition to all these points there's the issue of heat radiation. Drum brakes can get so hot the heat radiated between the brake shoes and the drum can actually prevent the two from coming into contact resulting in 100% brake failure. I had it happen to me on my car back in 1975; 100% failure. I shot across a very busy highway, jumped a ditch and did circles in a shopping mall parking lot until the car finally came to a stop. After about 20 minutes the brakes came back.
Disc brakes are not subject to that ailment even if the discs get red hot. In fact, disc brakes were developed for NASCAR expressly because of brake radiated heat failure in race cars.

Having said all that, I still have drum brakes, but I'm very aware of the problem and make sure I don't over heat them. When traveling down long steep hills (mountains) I pull over from time to time to let them cool down. I also carry a laser temp sensor to check the wheel bearing hub temperatures when I pull over. If the hub is hot the brakes are hot. Most of the time when you hear of or see a semi brake failure in the mountains it's because of drum radiated heat failure. Semis have drum brakes. But their brake shoes are very wide and the drums are very thick and heavy. Both conditions allow for much more heat absorption, until it can't keep up. Car tires are much smaller and there isn't room to make the brakes wider and the drums thicker. Drum brakes allow more "even" braking than disc brakes. There are advantages to both technologies. Anyway, enuf said. If you do some more research you might discover the drum brakes are quite adequate for your use. The long downhill runs are where the risk is. But if you're aware, then you likely won't get into trouble. If you don't plan on traveling in the mountains then you probably won't ever experience heat failure.

Dustin

[Grimmreaper]

I had disc brakes put on my momentum toy hauler they came to my home and did the install and when they pulled the drums off 3 of the four brakes were soaked in grease ( common problem ) I had just purchased the toy hauler that was a good enough reason for my decision to go disc brakes after the install the disc brakes are awesome they STOP the trailer right now don’t worry once you get the disc brakes you will love them !

[Saldog]

In addition to all these points there's the issue of heat radiation. Drum brakes can get so hot the heat radiated between the brake shoes and the drum can actually prevent the two from coming into contact resulting in 100% brake failure. I had it happen to me on my car back in 1975; 100% failure. I shot across a very busy highway, jumped a ditch and did circles in a shopping mall parking lot until the car finally came to a stop. After about 20 minutes the brakes came back.
Disc brakes are not subject to that ailment even if the discs get red hot. In fact, disc brakes were developed for NASCAR expressly because of brake radiated heat failure in race cars.

Having said all that, I still have drum brakes, but I'm very aware of the problem and make sure I don't over heat them. When traveling down long steep hills (mountains) I pull over from time to time to let them cool down. I also carry a laser temp sensor to check the wheel bearing hub temperatures when I pull over. If the hub is hot the brakes are hot. Most of the time when you hear of or see a semi brake failure in the mountains it's because of drum radiated heat failure. Semis have drum brakes. But their brake shoes are very wide and the drums are very thick and heavy. Both conditions allow for much more heat absorption, until it can't keep up. Car tires are much smaller and there isn't room to make the brakes wider and the drums thicker. Drum brakes allow more "even" braking than disc brakes. There are advantages to both technologies. Anyway, enuf said. If you do some more research you might discover the drum brakes are quite adequate for your use. The long downhill runs are where the risk is. But if you're aware, then you likely won't get into trouble. If you don't plan on traveling in the mountains then you probably won't ever experience heat failure.

Dustin

Thank you everyone who replied with their experience on the disc brake setup for your trailer. I am going to purchase the Kodiak setup for our 315RLTS this week.

Happy and safe travels to everyone!