Thread: Truck Braking. Is there an Aussie Standard??

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

I think you will find the Aussie Truckies haul a heap more weight than their US 18 wheeler steerers
I believe there isnt such a thing as a road train in the US,never mind the beheamoths the mining companies use on private haul roads.
Andrew

Andrew, they just don't call them road trains. They have short triples, doubles, long triples, dromedaries. Some of the gear used on private roads and by the Canadians in forests belies the imagination. They use Off-highway haul trucks (Euclid, Terex, etc.) as the prime movers. B-doubles originated in Canada. The regulations in the USA are made by the individual states. It is not possible to pull doubles or triples coast to coast because of the number of states that won't allow them. Length and weight limits are set by each state. This sometimes results in strange specifications to meet the limits, such as very skinny cabs to pull 45' trailers in states with a short overall length limit. Some of these had drivers seats that were fixed as there was not enough fore and aft room to allow them to slide. . Some of their roads used to have power to weight ratio requirements, such as the passes over the Sierra Nevadas. To get a permit to use the road you had to show you had enough grunt to get over the top and not be a PIA to those following. Other states apply a tax on through freighters transiting the state. Some states used to require fuel to be purchased in the state sufficient to transit the state as they applied a state tax on purchases, or an equivalent amount of tax paid.

Originally Posted by LOVEMYRANGIE

The one thing that American manufacturers are slow to take up is disc brakes.
There arent too many European primes that dont have discs up front or all round now...

With the US penchant for highway and roadside safety, it also suggests that drum brakes are not as bad as some people would try to have us believe.

Yes we know about brake fade and all the other disadvantages with drums, however it still indicates that drum brakes are suitable for heavy haulage and therefore have uses in light duty vehicles as well.

So IMHO all you series Landy people, stop worrying about Zeuss disc brake conversions and get the brakes you have working efficiently!

Diana