Knights of Old specifies BPW drum brake axles for new trailer fleet
Northamptonshire-based transport and logistics specialist Knights of Old has specified BPW drum brake axles with low-maintenance ECO hub system on an order of 72 new trailers from SDC – 60 of which have recently been delivered.
Drum brakes are now the company’s preferred choice, and BPW’s ECO drum brake is fitted to 85 per cent of the fleet, with robust design, ease of maintenance and low life-cycle costs cited as key operational advantages.
Dealership TruckEast, which maintains the Knights of Old fleet, has been involved in determining the trailer specification. It favoured BPW for several reasons: reliability, ease of maintenance and availability of parts. The company also pointed out that the low-maintenance running gear would ultimately mean less downtime for the end user.
BPW says its drum brake has been designed to provide enhanced braking performance, and that maintenance time is considerably reduced because of fewer working components within the system.
Coupled with the patented ECO Hub system, servicing and downtime are claimed to be reduced by over 50 per cent: where generally it can take up to eight hours to replace the brake linings on a standard tri-axle trailer, with the ECO Drum brake the job can be performed in less than four hours, BPW says.
Kelvin Gingell, technical director at Knights of Old Group, said: “In a time sensitive environment, where customer service is key to maintaining the sustainability of the business, we want to be operating with the most reliable and cost effective equipment.
“In order to meet these high demands it is critical that the level of vehicle downtime is kept to a minimum, which is why we have chosen BPW’s ECO drum brake.
“It is important to us that our service provider can work efficiently with our equipment and the low maintenance of this particular axle type is testament to the reliability of BPW axles.”
