As warmer weather approaches, consider these ways to reduce your drum heat in order to keep running efficiently and keep costs down.

James Fogal

 

As summer approaches many waste fleets will expect annual drum brake problems to reappear due to heat. It is amazing that even though these issues are costly causing reduced brake and drum life, inside tire bead failure, complete tire loss and premature wheel seal failure, few take the time to find out how to cure these problems.

 

Reducing Heat

Lets get right to the issue. You need to reduce heat. Pointing fingers at drivers is not going to make this issue go away. Consider beginning with the basics and if you need to move all the way up to most radical ways to reduce heat in your fleet.

 

Install Five-Hole Wheels in All Positions

This simple change reduces temperatures on your wheel end by allowing more air to circulate throughout. Expect a reduction of up to 25 degrees with this simple solution. This should be an automatic change in any waste fleet.

 

Change Your Drum

Your first option should be to go to a 7” vented brake drum that is also ribbed—assuming you are using the standard 7” drum that weighs 112 to 113 lbs. to start. A vented drum can reduce your temperature by up to 75 degrees and not only impact heat-related issues but increase your brake life significantly.

 

A second option would be to significantly increase the weight of your drum. Anytime you increase the weight of a drum, you create a larger heatsink that does not build up temperature as quickly. This change can reduce wheel end temperatures up to 50 degrees at each one.

 

Be aware that heavy-duty distributors are attempting to be price competitive by selling drums that are lighter in weight. These drums weigh between 100 to 106 lbs. They not only increase your heat issues, but could also lead to a serious liability to you as a fleet owner. Go into your shop and see if they are using any of these drums. You will be shocked to find them in many of your fleets. No OEM would ever install one of these drums in a waste application. You shouldn’t either.

 

Increase Your Brake and Drum Size

The easiest and most cost-effective way to reduce heat is to use an 8” friction material and an 8” vented and ribbed drum. The brake is larger and heavier along with a significant increase in drum weight. The difference in this brake and the larger 8 ⅝” is that the 8” setup can be installed on a 7” wheel end with no change to the hub. 8” friction material is also much less expensive and drums are up to $30 less than a drum that is 8 ⅝” wide.

 

An alternative option is an 8 ⅝” friction and a vented and ribbed brake drum. The extra cost of changing the hub along with significant friction and drum costs usually steers most waste fleet managers away from this choice. If you have a few extra bucks to spend and determine there will be no clearance issues with your axle, then you cannot go wrong with this setup. The drums are heavier; the brakes are wider—this is the godzilla of brakes that are used in the waste industry.

 

Install Brake Turbines

Brake turbines are designed to force air between the drum and friction material and will reduce the temperature of the wheel end up to 200 degrees—and they work great in slow moving waste trucks.

 

One option is to install brake turbines into all wheel ends and always use vented and ribbed drums where possible. What many fleet owners fail to recognize is that when you cool down all wheel ends, each wheel end can manage more heat and thus take the extra heat build up away from your primary drive brakes and drums. Steer and pusher/tag axles are especially important to help cool.  Cooling these wheel ends with brake turbines will help enhance your stopping ability and reduce the chance of tire failure in the drive position and premature brake wear. Using vented drums will increase the performance of your brake turbines and combined they can lower wheel end temperatures up to 300 degrees.Another option is to install brake turbines into a standard drum. You will still see drops in wheel end temperatures of up to 150 degrees.

 

Install a brake retarder

When you just can’t get your wheel end temperatures under control you can always install a brake retarder. This unique driveline brake will eliminate all heat on the wheel end. Ninety percent of all braking is being controlled by the driveline magnetic brake and, thus, your wheel end and brakes are significantly cooler. It is the cureall for any outrageous heat problems a challenged waste fleet might have. However, the downsides are cost (up to $9,000 per truck), tricky maintenance, and the hundreds of pounds it adds to the truck which means less product taken to the landfill each day.

 

Better Performance and Lower Cost

So lets outline the system I would have on my waste fleet whether I have ever had a tire, heat or performance issue with my brakes. Remember, your fleet can always have better performance and lower cost.

  • Change all wheels to five-hole
  • Switch to 8” friction material
  • Add an 8” vented/ribbed drum on each drive axle and pusher/tag axle
  • Add brake turbines to each wheel end including steer
  • Use an OEM grade friction material

 

This setup change from a standard 7” brake/drum can provide a savings of $2,000 per truck annually in brake life alone with additional savings in tire life and reduced costs from wheel seal failure. In addition, your truck will stop shorter and driver complaints of soft brakes will go away. Don’t let 2013 get away from you without trying these changes in your fleet. Your owners and stockholders with be thrilled and your maintenance budget will find new dollars saved year after year.

 

James Fogal is Vice President of Sales Lynfinn Truck Technologies (St. Louis, MO). He can be reached at (314) 517-2533, ext.201 or via e-mail at [email protected].

 

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