X-Brake

[diggerdog36]

Im sick of fixing my hand brake and looking at getting one., but are there any down sides to the X-Brake (apart from the price)??

[4x4spud]

the price
but if you look past that they seem first class i am buying one in the new year

[Mareng]

its a good bit of kit..

It held even when i revd the engine and dumped the clutch whilst the centre diff was locked and I was in low box reverse......

Managed to bend the back plate and twist the disc, but it held....

Just need to machine the disc straight and all will be well with the world again.

[Saffy]

I think there might be issues if I wanted one , later handbrake mechanism and PTO winch. Though they say there is a model suitable I am confused and  from description it hangs lower than normal x brake?

[Tommo]

i still cant help thinking that when ive grounded out as i always do, the handbrake drum is always the thing that hits the ground. wouldnt this bend/break a disk?

if it bent it i would be cream crackkered with out any tools. my landy would be going no where.

im still in favour of a well set up drum. getting a bit nit picky now but as an emergency brake i would also far prefer the drum. the land rover drum is pretty big. and the x brake isnt. sounds daft but i have relyed on the hand brake in the past when ive lost vacuum and if your careful it can be effective. you have to be careful though because if your not then it doesent do your engine/gearbox mountings any good.

[ben_haynes]

i still cant help thinking that when ive grounded out as i always do, the handbrake drum is always the thing that hits the ground. wouldnt this bend/break a disk?

if it bent it i would be cream crackkered with out any tools. my landy would be going no where.

im still in favour of a well set up drum. getting a bit nit picky now but as an emergency brake i would also far prefer the drum. the land rover drum is pretty big. and the x brake isnt. sounds daft but i have relyed on the hand brake in the past when ive lost vacuum and if your careful it can be effective. you have to be careful though because if your not then it doesent do your engine/gearbox mountings any good.

the disc is smaller compared to the Drum

[Holyzeus]

this is why you need a x-brake  

http://forums.mud-club.com/viewtopic.php?t=53618

[Defender]

I think there might be issues if I wanted one , later handbrake mechanism and PTO winch. Though they say there is a model suitable I am confused and  from description it hangs lower than normal x brake?

I opted for the PTO version. This moves the caliper away from the "12 o'clock" position to nearer the "1 o'clock" position, away from the PTO hole as you can see in the photo:

I don't have any reservations about the holding ability of the X-brake as the caliper mechanism is designed to be used on large earth moving equipment. So long as it is kept adjusted correctly, it should be more than up to the job of holding a Land Rover on a slope.

[diggerdog36]

I was reading that thread about how crap the drum brakes are, thats what got me thinking, I cant see how the disc can lead to getting hung up more, its smaller than the drum, plus, the disc is 10mm thick!!!! That is bloody thick!!!

[GREENI]

Plus you got a 'rock slider' on it too.


Make sure you go for the genuine X-ENGINEERING xbrake...
You don't want people calling you a cheapskate :shock:

[Tommo]

yes, now i have seen it it indeed looks like a reasonable plan. although i would drill the disk myself to remove unnececary weight (but now we ARE nit picking!)

I think the statement about it being used on large earthmoving equipment is a bit of a crazy thing to say though, because you dont know what it was doing. it certainly wasnt the hand brake thats for sure!

But yes i would say i would add it to my list of mods for the ideal landy. It might stand up better to the girlfriend pulling the handbrake up as hard as she can as if she's in a normal car (ooo it makes me cringe! she just cant grasp that its perfectly fine when the lever can still easily be pulled up another 3 notches!)

[Muddy]

The x-brake is a 100 times better than the lar drum, as has been said it has a beefy gaurd to protect it, it will hold better than a drum espec after a days playing (ask about 90% of winch challenge people), x-eng are a qaulity company you wont be fobbed off if you have a problem. The disc setup is also about 5kg lighter than the lr drum.

I have nothing to do with x-eng apart from being a happy customer.

Be warner scrap-iron amongst others sell a cheapo version make sure you buy the genuine one.

[dreadnought110]

I can't recommend it enough after years of oil going into my handbrake and not knowing about it till it's too late and the rear seal keep packing up i now trust my hand brake it hold's on any hill even with the caravan on the back and an all up weight of 4.6tonnes oh and it never leaks oil now well chuffed fits alright with the overdrive as well.... 8)  8)

[smo]

I've got one, tis excellent and very well made.

[Defender]

I think the statement about it being used on large earthmoving equipment is a bit of a crazy thing to say though, because you dont know what it was doing. it certainly wasnt the hand brake thats for sure!

Disc brakes are used as handbrakes on some earth moving equipment. I used to drive a JCB weighing in at 7.5 tons & this used a disc brake on the rear propshaft as a handbrake.
So long as it was adjusted properly, it held the machine no problem.
BUT you should never rely on the handbrake alone on a slope. In the JCB you would leave the bucket on the ground & in a Landy you need to leave it in gear.

[GREENI]

My mate decided to 'put it on his list'.....
Then this happened.... http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/letsoffroad/Rich/photo#5048741800135555122

[Range Rover Blues]

Perfect time to fit one

Serioulsy though, how did that happen? was he ok.

[GREENI]

Perfect time to fit one

Serioulsy though, how did that happen? was he ok.

He wasn't in it !!!
On Llangollen Steps, struggled on the slate outcrop, got out, handbrake did'nt hold, and off it went...
I cant tell you how fast it picked up speed...the roll cage was fitted the day before !! It was 'Totalled' !!

[Disco-Ron]

OUCH.... never nice to see, just goes to show, never rely on any handbrake, always as said above, leave it in gear aswell..... ie, not running either!!

[garybrun]

Glad to hear he wasnt in it.

[tonycougar]

All the advice I was ever told was they are not as good as a well adjusted drum brake. Admittedly the drum brakes need a lot of service-ing, especially if you go off road, and maybe the time cost of all the service-ing could outway the cost of buying an Xbrake. Somebody once told me they eventually go rusty due to them being a disc and not being used all the time, and hence cleaned all the time, like a normal disc brake.

[Disco-Ron]

All the advice I was ever told was they are not as good as a well adjusted drum brake. Admittedly the drum brakes need a lot of service-ing, especially if you go off road, and maybe the time cost of all the service-ing could outway the cost of buying an Xbrake. Somebody once told me they eventually go rusty due to them being a disc and not being used all the time, and hence cleaned all the time, like a normal disc brake.

Simple answer to that... just ease the lever up for a few seconds each journey./....

[tonycougar]

Good thinking. Think I might buy one now. I'm sick of taking the handbrake drum to bits to clean it. :?

[thermidorthelobster]

After reading this thread, I was jolted into ordering one.  Should be fitting it Friday :)

[TDi90]

you really wont regret it lobster, they are a cracking bit of kit!

[thermidorthelobster]

Thanks, I hope so, I could have got half a Before-n-After for the price!

[thermidorthelobster]

Fitting was delayed because it took a few days of faff to finally get all the bits I wanted (although x-eng were very apologetic about their cock-ups).  But I fitted it earlier this week.  I can't say it was the easiest job in practice, because of fiddly clearance issues around the exhaust, and the fact that I don't have a 2-post lift.  But it does seem to work very well now it's fitted.

[Range Rover Blues]

Somebody once told me they eventually go rusty due to them being a disc and not being used all the time, and hence cleaned all the time, like a normal disc brake.

I'd think that wouldn't be a problem as it's a holding brake not a service brake, so a bit of rust probably makes it better.

[clbarclay]

I think the statement about it being used on large earthmoving equipment is a bit of a crazy thing to say though, because you dont know what it was doing. it certainly wasnt the hand brake thats for sure!

It depends what you class as large, This is what we call a large wheel loader at work

I doubt however said the caliper came off a large earth mover had that in mind

The back hoe loaders on the over hand use a similare sized caliper as a hand brake.

It does look though like the caliper used by X-eng was designed for a bigger disc.

[Tommo]

I think the statement about it being used on large earthmoving equipment is a bit of a crazy thing to say though, because you dont know what it was doing. it certainly wasnt the hand brake thats for sure!

It depends what you class as large, This is what we call a large wheel loader at work

I doubt however said the caliper came off a large earth mover had that in mind

The back hoe loaders on the over hand use a similare sized caliper as a hand brake.

It does look though like the caliper used by X-eng was designed for a bigger disc.

Yeah thats what i call large earthmoveing equipment as well. a JCB might be earth moving equipment, and it is quite large, but not large earth moving equipment!