Meritor has announced optional hydraulic actuation is available for all ELSA disc brakes for applications requiring hydraulic disc brake variants.

Built with a modular design, the mechanical, pneumatically operated brake housing of the current range is replaced by a hydraulic single or twin piston variant. The bridge, carrier and slide pin arrangements remain common for pneumatic and hydraulic variants. Pads can also be common and will be available in pad areas from 107-226 square centimeters. The new option covers brakes for wheels between 17.5 and 25 inches. Rotor diameter varies from 324 mm to 500 mm.

“The hydraulic variant supports current applications and specialty applications as well as eMobility vehicles where the industry’s dependence on pneumatic systems has been reduced to a point where it becomes advantageous to work with hydraulic systems,” said Tony Nicol, Meritor’s vice president of front & rear drivetrain for Europe.

According to the company, the hydraulic variant can be readily manufactured for all global regions to support OE product development and localization initiatives.

“Manufacturers can now readily install a pneumatic or hydraulic ELSA brake on the same wheel-end arrangement to reduce production complexity, tooling and engineering development costs,” Nicol said. “Due to common components, end-users benefit from a high commonality of component and service kits.”