Alcon Components Ltd, the highly acclaimed UK-based brake and clutch company, has announced a ‘refresh’ of their best-selling armoured vehicle brake kits, to take account of recent customer demands. Alcon’s brake kits are used across the globe by armouring companies to improve performance and safety when the significant weight of armour is added to a vehicle. This ‘refresh’ covers some of the most popular vehicle kits, the Toyota LC300 and the Nissan Patrol. Alcon’s refreshed armoured vehicle brake kits sit alongside a wide range of other kits that deliver improvements in performance and safety and reduce through life costs. As well as the LC300 and Patrol kits, Alcon can provide off-the-shelf kits for multiple vehicles including: Ford F150/F550/F250/F350 and Ranger/Raptor series, GMC1500, RAM5500, GMC K2-based platforms Tahoe and Escalade, Chevrolet’s Suburban and Suburban HD, Mercedes Sprinter 4×4, Toyota Tacoma and Toyota’s LC300, LC 200, Hilux, LC70 series.
Nissan Patrol Brake kit
Due to the recent resurgence of the Nissan Patrol in the armoured vehicle market, Alcon have refreshed and re-introduced the Nissan Patrol brake kit. The Alcon Nissan Patrol kit includes a caliper from the well proven CIR15 family used on many other armoured and defence applications. Like the refreshed LC300 kit, it also includes a one-piece disc. The Alcon Nissan Patrol kit now gives an increase of up to 15% reduction in disc temperature rise, up to 35% reduction in front and rear pad work rates and up to 7% increase in available brake torque, over standard.
Toyota LC-300 brake kit
Due to the unprecedented demand for the Toyota LC300 front only kit, Alcon has introduced a single piece disc to replace the current two-piece disc, which is more in keeping with the demands of the market. Fitting the refreshed brake kit with the new disc will increase available brake torque, reduce brake fade and fluid vaporisation, extend brake service intervals and reduce through-life costs. The LC300 kit now gives an increase of up to 36% in disc thermal capacity, a reduction of up to 36% in front pad work rate and an increase of up to 9% in available front brake torque, over standard. Moving to a one-piece disc removes the requirement for manual disc assembly and gives a more robust product. Alcon repeated their full dynamometer test schedule to validate the disc, exceeding requirements on the disc strength, disc cracking and disc coning tests. The friction performance test indicated that the slight variation in grade of disc material has increased the friction coefficient between pad and disc.
From armoured SUVs to the largest military combat vehicles, Alcon’s brake solutions are available for a number of applications. They are designed and built to the highest specification, developed to withstand the harshest and most demanding of environments encountered on the battlefield, whilst providing excellent braking performance and reliability. The company have off-the-shelf solutions available for a range of brake upgrades or, Alcon have the ability to design a bespoke solution to absolutely meet your needs be you a vehicle designer, maintainer or axle manufacturer. Already well-established in the defence sector, Alcon have designed, manufactured and delivered bespoke braking solutions for some of the world’s leading Special Forces and armoured vehicle manufacturers, including Supacat, BAe, Ricardo and Jankel.
