A secondary braking system has recently been made available with huge weight savings and better braking performance for midsize commercial vehicles. The Model 4500 is designed to fit Chevy 4500 series vehicles.
This new design is a mid-mount installation. It is mounted in the driveline between the transmission and rear axle. Due to its patented internal cooling design, braking heat is dissipated by pumping coolant to and from the engine cooling system. Using this cooling system as the thermal mass, huge weight savings are realized as compared to other products on the market. Weight, however, is not the only savings incorporated into this brake. This revolutionary design is roughly half the price of competitive products.
“Weight reduction is one of our main goals, both overall weight and rotating mass” says inventor and head engineer of D-Brake, John DeConti. “The brake is currently being refined to reduce its inertia even further, to less than 1 lb-ft^2. “This is a huge success for us, because it eliminates all torque shudder associated with other driveline retarders. Our current product utilizes copper as the rotor material due to its high conductivity, but a new high-tech aluminum rotor material will save even more weight.”
