Upgrading Brakes?

[crphillips]

Hi there,

I have a Holux Invincible with around 10k on the clock. I tow a cherry picker on a trailer every now and then.....the total weight of the cherry picker and trailer is around 3000kg............it's an auto and i'm very happy with how it tows.....especially when it's a bit slippy and you knock it into 4 wheel drive.

My only problem is that the brakes are a bit pants. It's obviously a braked trailer (which is brand new and correctly adjusted) but i'm just not really happy with the brakes....especially when towing. The pedal gets very spungy to the point where i can get the pedal to hit the stop plate on the floor.

What i need to know is will a simple upgrade like some EBC drilled and vented discs and pads with some new brake fluid make a huge difference or would i have to head in the direction of bigger discs and callipers ( i really don't want to head in the second direction if the first will improve things a fair bit).

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Vince W]

The brake fluid should still be OK after 10k miles.

First thing I would do is change to flexy brake hoses to the stainless braided type.

[wattyg]

yep go for braided hoses. i got them from roughtrax when i lifted my surf. and they firm up the pedal a treat.

[treeclimber]

Isn't the hilux max pull supposed to be 2250kg.

[crphillips]

Isn't the hilux max pull supposed to be 2250kg.

Yeah but only to get around the tacograph issue, it pulls 3000kg no problem..............i won't tell if you don't anyway.

[treeclimber]

I tow a cherry picker on a trailer every now and then.....the total weight of the cherry picker and trailer is around 3000kg

Sorry to change subject,

Just out of interest, I am assuming the cherry picker is a tracked one if on a trailer. If so, is it yours or a hired one. If hired, what sort of reach is it and where from. I sometimes use one from time to time. And I could pull it if you don't tell... Cheers

[crphillips]

Hi there,

We have a couple of cherry pickers......we have a truck mounted AL22 on a Merc Atego 7.5 tonn truck. It has a horizontal reach of 17m and vetical of 22m.

The other one i mentioned earlier is a Spider RQG 18 on tracks.........it has an outreach of 11m and vetical of 18m. It folds up to fit through a 900mm gap. Runs on diesel or electric and can be used undoor aswell as out.

Both machines are available for hire and come with an IPAF trained driver/operator. We don't hire for self drive. Based in Leeds.