Meritor, Inc. has announced the immediate availability of reduced stopping distance (RSD) friction materials at the company’s parts distribution centers in Florence, Ky., and Brampton, Ontario. The company says this action supports North American truck operators who want to standardize their RSD brake friction materials. This announcement was made during HDAW 2012 at The Mirage in Las Vegas.
“To comply with the new stopping distance regulations, our customers specified the ‘new’ brakes on new tractors, but many fleets told us they preferred to outfit their current vehicles with the same friction materials for ease of inventory and vehicle maintenance,” says Tim Bauer, director, Undercarriage Products, Meritor Aftermarket.
Bauer adds that fleet managers wanted to use RSD friction materials on remanufactured brake shoes at normal service intervals.
With a complete suite of friction materials, the Meritor Q Plus drum brake package is available to support FMVSS 121 compliance for new trucks. Meritor brake engineers addressed balancing the torque load between tractor and trailer brakes, as well as maintaining a focus on everyday driving characteristics and the more stringent emergency stop performance requirements, the company says.
To meet the new government regulations applicable to new trucks that went into effect last August, Meritor designed more powerful front brakes and highly effective rear-axle brakes with new enhanced friction materials, says Joe Kay, chief engineer, Brakes, Meritor.
