AIR DISC BRAKES: A TRUCK MANUFACTURER'S VIEW
Kenworth Truck Company has installed air disc brakes on some 500 trucks and truck-tractors over the past four years. The brakes are offered as an unpublished option only, to encourage the customer to make a well-considered choice for air disc over drum brakes, to indicate the experimental nature of the air discs, and to place more engineering attention on each application. The customers rank weight savings and serviceability as the most important advantages. Improved fade resistance ranks next and seems to appeal to two customer types: the safety-conscious operator, and the operator who wants to improve productivity through reduced trip times (generally West Coast loggers). Improved stability with air discs is not a major customer concern. Excessive wear is the number one problem, caused either by incompatibility of air discs with other brake types or by unintentional driver abuse. Squeal and chatter have also been sources of customer complaints.
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Supplemental Notes:
- Presented at the SAE Truck Meeting, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 5-8 November 1979. Also published in HS-030 384 (SAE-SP-466), "Why an Air Disc Brake for Heavy Trucks?," Warrendale, Pennsylvania, 1980, p 19.
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Corporate Authors:
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
400 Commonwealth Drive
Warrendale, PA United States 15096 -
Authors:
- ORR, L W
- Publication Date: 1980
Media Info
- Pagination: 1 p.
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Air brakes; Alternatives analysis; Brakes; Braking performance; Disc brakes; Industries; Productivity; Reliability; Safety; Stability (Mechanics); Trucking; Trucks; Wear; Weight
- Uncontrolled Terms: Compatibility
- Old TRIS Terms: Brake fade; Truck brakes
- Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Motor Carriers; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00380924
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Report/Paper Numbers: HS-030 391
- Files: HSL, USDOT
- Created Date: Jan 30 1984 12:00AM