Disc Brakes

[Shane Wood]

Well today I had Ron AKA Titan Guy install a new set of Titan Hydraulic Disk Brakes on my trailer. I have changed a lot of brakes , drum and disc over the years and from what I see Titan has a very quality product they are selling. Their hydraulic system puts out more pressure than all the rest on the market. Which relates to shorter stopping distance. Their pricing is as good or better than all the competitors I checked out. The service I received by Ron was fantastic. He went out of his way to have a RV Tech come out and do the exchange at the Park where my Trailer is. They were very professional and went above and beyond the job they had at hand. Very proffesional and on time.If anyone is looking to upgrade to a disc brake system get a hold of Ron at Titan. You won't be sorry.
Thanks again Ron for the outstanding service and install

[almcc]

Thanks for the comment Shane! I'm looking at doing the conversion, I have met Ron and will have him arrange for the conversion when we are in the south again.

Al.

[Titan Guy]

Shane, Thank You for the kind words. Will see you again and share a few more beers. We are in Kingman, Az. tonight and be in Albuquerque tomorrow for a week.

[Shane Wood]

Thanks again Ron
Glad you made it. Safe Travels

[travelin' texans]

if you haven't inspected your brakes (especially drum brakes) you need to do so as they are apparently still using the same cheap seals since day one despite all of us that they reimbursed/paid to have replaced.

[Rick and Mindy]

The May issue of Trailer Life has an excellent article on the Titan Disk brake systems. It even takes you through a step by step installation process.

[Titan Guy]

Rick, you must have print copy. It is not showing up on the online version.
Interesting, I didn't even know they were evaluating our system.

[Rick and Mindy]

Originally Posted by Titan Guy

Rick, you must have print copy. It is not showing up on the online version.
Interesting, I didn't even know they were evaluating our system.

Ron, just received it in the mail yesterday. You probably need to get ready for increased sales since the word is out. I'm still debating if I can do it myself. The article was excellent except it didn't detail the wiring hookup to the battery and the emergency brake switch. It even has great pictures.

[Titan Guy]

The only question is, are you physically capable. A 7k Integrated Hub/Rotor weighs 37 lbs. That is the heaviest part. The more difficult part is laying on your back running brake line. This part really needs to be done on a hard surface so you can use a creeper. Installation is a 8-10 hr job. So at $100 hr for a shop to install, there are a lot of us who can do the work and save the $1000. I have put together a COMPLETE installation kit that includes all wire, connectors, looms, clamps, bolts and self tappers to complete an install.
The last kit took the customer abt 12 hours over 3 days. Day 1 he mounted, wired and tested the actuator in 3 hrs. Day 2 he removed old brakes and installed new disc brakes in 4 hrs. Day 3 he installed & bled the brake lines. Tested the system unhooked and hooked to TV in 5 hrs.

[Rick and Mindy]

Originally Posted by Titan Guy

The only question is, are you physically capable. A 7k Integrated Hub/Rotor weighs 37 lbs. That is the heaviest part. The more difficult part is laying on your back running brake line. This part really needs to be done on a hard surface so you can use a creeper. Installation is a 8-10 hr job. So at $100 hr for a shop to install, there are a lot of us who can do the work and save the $1000. I have put together a COMPLETE installation kit that includes all wire, connectors, looms, clamps, bolts and self tappers to complete an install.
The last kit took the customer abt 12 hours over 3 days. Day 1 he mounted, wired and tested the actuator in 3 hrs. Day 2 he removed old brakes and installed new disc brakes in 4 hrs. Day 3 he installed & bled the brake lines. Tested the system unhooked and hooked to TV in 5 hrs.

I can handle the physical part of it and the Redwood is kept in storage on concrete. My issue so far is the wiring of the actuator. Time is not an issue. I spent about 5 days installing my own air bags and then took it to the shop that had installed them on my prior truck and they offered me a job. Of course I was laying flat on my back on concrete without lifting the truck so I would only work a couple of hours a day. Does the kit include necessary bearings and seals?

[Titan Guy]

The wiring itself is pretty simple. There are 5 wires coming out of the actuator.
Blue to Blue controller wire pkg in the junction box
Brown to breakaway switch controller wire. Top wire on switch should be a blue wire on Redwoods
Black to Power wire pkg in junction box.

These all get pulled from the battery compartment thru the overhead to the pin box. On my 2012 simple fish from pin box back to battery compartment. On Shane Woods 2015 the screws around the pin box and trim had to be loosened to get fish tape to battery area.

White wire to negative side of house battery.
Purple wire to positive side of house battery.

That's it.

[Rick and Mindy]

Originally Posted by Titan Guy

The wiring itself is pretty simple. There are 5 wires coming out of the actuator.
Blue to Blue controller wire pkg in the junction box
Brown to breakaway switch controller wire. Top wire on switch should be a blue wire on Redwoods
Black to Power wire pkg in junction box.

These all get pulled from the battery compartment thru the overhead to the pin box. On my 2012 simple fish from pin box back to battery compartment. On Shane Woods 2015 the screws around the pin box and trim had to be loosened to get fish tape to battery area.

White wire to negative side of house battery.
Purple wire to positive side of house battery.

That's it.

Thanks Ron, sounds simple enough. They really didn't discuss that part of it in the article. Hopefully soon I will be ready for the conversion.

[Rick and Mindy]

Ron, aren't there already wires running from the pinbox to the battery compartment for the existing electric brakes? Couldn't you simply use the existing wires and connect to them in the battery compartment?

[Titan Guy]

The existing electric brake wire consists of a ground (white) and controller wire (blue) that come out of the junction box into a loom that branches off in or around the propane compartment. Even if you use this wire, you still need to pull the other 2 wires into the pin box. The existing wiring loom is jammed and there is no way to utilize this for a wire run.

If you remember, my actuator is mounted under the trailer on the cross member just in front of the entry door. In this case I did cut the electric brake wire at the axle and pulled them to the actuator, connected them to the Blue & White wires on the actuator.
So that was 2 wires I did not need to run. I will be at Titan in a few weeks and the engineers are running some voltage/amperage tests on my unit because of the long wire runs on my trailer.

[Shane Wood]

Originally Posted by Titan Guy

The existing electric brake wire consists of a ground (white) and controller wire (blue) that come out of the junction box into a loom that branches off in or around the propane compartment. Even if you use this wire, you still need to pull the other 2 wires into the pin box. The existing wiring loom is jammed and there is no way to utilize this for a wire run.

If you remember, my actuator is mounted under the trailer on the cross member just in front of the entry door. In this case I did cut the electric brake wire at the axle and pulled them to the actuator, connected them to the Blue & White wires on the actuator.
So that was 2 wires I did not need to run. I will be at Titan in a few weeks and the engineers are running some voltage/amperage tests on my unit because of the long wire runs on my trailer.

Ron
How did your tests at the factory come out?

[Titan Guy]

Still in Des Moines. The engineers were due out on Friday but calling for rain so looks like tomorrow is the new target. I will be pulling the underbelly down today and running some voltage tests. It will be interesting to see what the actual voltage drop is. Especially on the white and blue wire which were pulled from the original electric brakes. I will be increasing size on the white & black wires to 10 Ga. Also going to Heat Shrink Crimp Connectors. Initial install was standard wire nuts. Also installing a new 7 pole junction box. This will make things a little more organized and easier to add wire for the wire run to the back of the Redwood to hook up another 7 way.

[Titan Guy]

Electric/Hydraulic Actuator Testing: Before and after testing showed that Neutral & Power wire Ga. need to be increased by 1 wire size on runs of 15 feet or more. Went from 12 Ga. to 10 Ga. resulting in improved response time from .4 sec. to .2 sec.

[Radio_Flyer]

Ron, can't wait to catch up with you and get this done. That is pretty amazing just increasing the gauge of the wire.

[piper guy]

Skip - I have Kodiak Disc on mine, MorRyde did it along with the IS. You won't believe the difference in braking and confidence. I don't worry about blowing through an intersection any more or being able to get the rig stopped. Whole rig stops as good as the truck does.
Mine has a slight delay, if I had it to do over after reading everything, I would go with the Titan Setup. Either way, do disc brakes.

[Radio_Flyer]

Vaughan, That has been my biggest concern. Traffic in this area is terrible and the stock brakes don't give me a good feeling when getting cut off. I've been talking with Ron about getting it done, he is working on getting a place qualified in Gainesville to do the work. The brakes are my last upgrade item for my rig, window seal replacement this weekend.