With all the talk of new truck technology, it’s easy to lose sight of equipment spec’ing basics. Yet, these are the daily choices that are impacting your business right now. Consider drum brakes, the foundation of many fleets’ safety system. Your brake drum selection can impact everything from brake fade to tire wear, both safety and bottom line-critical issues.
“You want to make sure that you have a quality brake drum that’s not going to crack or come off of the vehicle as it wears or if something malfunctions within the material that’s inside that drum. That’s really key,” said Jeff Bates, general manager of Motor Wheel. “Ride quality is another area to look at. A lot of lower-quality drums aren’t balanced properly and that creates vibrations and driver discomfort. In an extreme case of a really low quality drum, it could result in damaging sensitive cargo that’s on the vehicle.”
Bates boiled down the basics of brake drum spec’ing choices and proper maintenance procedures during our conversation. Watch the video above for all of his insight.
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