Braking new ground: advanced axles and braking technology from Granning

While most farmers are familiar with Irish manufactured trailers and slurry tankers, a major piece of the jigsaw that needs to be better understood from a safety point of view, is the axle and brakes underneath.

Paul Edwards is the commercial manager of Granning Axles and Suspension Systems Ltd based in Naas, Co Kildare and gives updates on new developments.

Granning has been in business for over 50 years and is a highly specialised company offering axles and suspension systems for small agricultural trailers all the way up to highly specialised commercial systems for road haulage trailers and everything in between.

Paul explains that “Granning manufacture specialist axles at the Naas production plant and are the only company in Ireland to still manufacture axles locally”.

It also offers a refurbishment service for worn brake shoes and linings and much more besides.

Granning started out as a commercial trailer manufacturer and in the early 1990s acquired Granning Axles and relocated the axle plant from Leeds in the UK to Co Kildare.

Paul says that “this background has given the company an edge in the agricultural sector as the extensive engineering knowledge and experience in both the manufacturing of axles and the chassis/trailer industry”.

In conjunction to the Irish manufacturing plant in Nass, and a facility in the UK, the company has had the same Chinese partner for more than 30 years which produces its large volume distribution products.

It’s crucial to Granning that all products adhere to the high European and TUV standards needed to be properly road certified.

“Quality is something that has to be right, therefore the testing that Granning’s subject products to enables us to get repeat business from our customers” says Paul.

He highlights that the TUV standard is a product certificate which confirms that a product meets defined criteria and distinct safety-relevant aspects which means all components get a very rigorous testing.

Contractors and farmers need to be more aware of this type of benchmarking as poor-quality brake components on farm machinery, whether that’s in the control systems of trailers or inside the wheel hub, can lead to rapid degradation of the tractor’s own internal braking systems.

Paul explains that it’s the knowledge of their in-house design team, plus the skills of factory staff combined with this type of quality control and certification that ensures Granning offer a premium product.

According to Paul, the demand for the high-speed line of agricultural axles is increasing as larger and faster tractors and trailers become more common.

The brake forces required and components to suit this speed increase are substantially much greater and this is why their products are superior.

Paul says “Granning offer true commercial axles and suspensions in the sense that they are widely used in the commercial truck and trailer industry, as opposed to other agricultural axle suppliers who mainly import their products and have no axle/brake engineering team, or history of high-speed axles and concentrate on agricultural-only equipment”.

This means there is a knowledge gap where higher speeds and loads are desired. It’s the experience of the design team in Naas that allows Granning to provide a full and comprehensive guidance to customers on all technical aspects of the application whether it’s the axle, suspension or braking system.

Paul explained no matter if it’s a bespoke axle for a small customer or whether it’s to supply an assembly line, the same process still applies.

Factors that must be considered include the overall trailer use, masses both laded or unladed, speeds and dimensions etc. before specifying the axle for the trailer.

Braking calculations are then performed to ensure the trailer has optimum braking performance and is compatible with the towing vehicle.

With Irish machinery manufactures now exporting to more countries all over the world, Granning also offers the expertise to advise customers on global markets and the various rules and regulations to suit a host of different markets.

Maintenance is something Granning engineers feel is an area where its products also stand out from the crowd with the “split hub design” as it means much easier and faster access to brake shoes during service intervals.

Another benefit noted by customers is stability on the road and in fields due to the additional space between the drum which has been maximised.

Anti-lock brakes known as ABS are very good to help prevent tyres from locking up and scrubbing whereby tyre life is increased plus better braking. Granning also have electronic brake systems (EBS) in the range which are a further evolution and advancement of ABS and offer additional benefits that enable the brake force to be optimally controlled at each wheel, according to the level of grip available.

EBS offers faster brake reaction times, internal load sensing and thus brake modulation, brake antilock and a trailer stability program to reduce the likelihood of trailer roll-over.

CTIS which is central tyre inflation system is also now available and means customers can inflate the trailer tyres for the road to achieve optimal tyre life and stability and deflate them in the field for reduced soil compaction. The massive weights now of today’s larger equipment are having a detrimental impact on soil health and farmers need to try to alleviate soil compaction where possible.

Paul explains “that launching these products are natural steps to help agricultural trailers to match the continuous advancements in farm vehicle technology and help their customers into the future”.

Granning can now offer an axle/brake telematics system to provide information for farm records, data analysis and improve road safety.

It means key data can be taken from an agricultural trailer’s EBS unit, this is then sent live from the trailer to the operator/contractor computer where they can monitor the trailer’s location, route, speed, driver behaviour, brake performance, tyre pressures etc to improve efficiency and ensure that the trailer meets with regulated braking efficiencies and that it has no issues.

Additionally, if the trailer is running on air suspension it will allow the operator to know what weights are being carried in the trailer. This live performance monitoring can indicate if the trailer is doing the correct amount of braking for the combination. This leads to better brake balancing of the tractor/trailer combination.

Correctly performing braking for the tractor and trailer makes the combination safer and ensures that the brakes are operating to their optimum, reducing downtime and preventing premature replacement of linings or degradation of the tractor’s own brakes and transmission.

The telematics has an option of a phone app for the driver/contractor of the trailer to run a pre-use checklist, with questions customisable by the owner to ensure that the trailer is safe to operate or that any defects can be logged. The servicing of the trailer can be managed and scheduled through the app. The trailer is tracked via GPS and monitoring of the information received to the operator can be used to best utilise vehicles, ensure they are safe and if available in their territory can be used to support an operator’s recognition program.

Historical data from previous trips can be selected and used to show the exact vehicle condition at any moment in time for investigate purposes, and for driver training. This kind of data could also be very beneficial for security purposes and resale value.