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Converting ifor williams trailer to disk brakes?


dantastic

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I have an old ifor williams flat bed, a proper old one with al-ko brakes. Rust have taken the back plates completely and I'm looking at a hefty bill now regardless.

The al-ko brakes are a pain the the backside, they're not very good, no auto reverse and are a pig to adjust.

I've seen the americans have universal disk brake conversion kits. I'm thinking this might be a route. Has anyone done this before?

Would seem to me disk brakes are superior in every way but I've never heard about them on our shores so I have to ask why...?

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why not just fit a more modern ifor drum system? for what they are i dont personally see the need for disks on a trailer. drums ought to last longer between shoe replacements and generally arent an issue for the most part.

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Why disc ? I find the drums on the trailer I've just built fine.

There is no difference between the Al-Ko brakes and the Knott ones, except the Al-Ko are adjusted through the backplate with a screwdriver. Whereas the Knott ones have a 17MM bolt head for adjustment. Try Peak Trailers for the Knott parts or even Knott themselves.

The only thing I don't like is the Auto reverse.

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You do not have to use the auto reverse feature, you can buy a reversing lockout part for the Knott/Avonride hitch in order to properly lock out the brakes for reversing. That way it is still possible to get out and fiddle with the hitch before reversing - there is no need to remove auto reverse for this, you can leave it there for more forward thinking users. This is especially fun when there is traffic waiting while you bugger about...

Chris

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Alternatively you can grind one side off a bit of angle iron and jam it in the hitch when you need to reverse up a hill, as per http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=87661

Takes about 5 seconds to fit, and unlike the official reverse lockout it doesn't pop out if you need to shunt back and forth a couple of times plus it has the added safety feature that if you forget to remove it, it will dig you in the leg to remind you it is there when you go to open the back door :)

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