Axles, brakes, safety.

Whenever practical, we use disk brakes and torsion axles for our restorations. These axles provide truly independent suspension. This allows each wheel to respond to road irregularities without affecting the other wheel/s of the trailer. It translates into a smoother, quieter ride, with less jerking from the trailer’s frame and  body. It greatly reduces the amount of stress that is transferred to the trailer’s shell and interior. It makes for a quieter, safer and more relaxed towing experience.

Disk brakes with their electro/hydraulic actuator are compatible with most tow vehicles and brake controllers. The stopping distance is dramatically shorter, and brake fade on long down-hills is all but eliminated.

A huge advantage of discs over drums is the inherently better balance of disks vs. drums. Electric trailer brake drums are often tragically unbalanced, causing major vibration while towing. This vibration can easily damage a riveted trailer shell, and cause strange interior separations over time. Disc brakes run more balanced, naturally, and are machined to closer tolerances than electric trailer brake drums. Our experience has always been that  it is not necessary to go through the trouble of balancing the running gear when using disk brakes. Of course we do recommend having the trailer tires balanced.

Our axle installations always include a simple alignment check. We want to be sure that the axle is squared to the centerline of the trailer. Only then will the trailer tow in line with the tow vehicle.

For customers that are conscious to originality of the trailer, we can restore a leaf spring/electric drum installation as well.