Trying to make a silk purse out of my max 6

well maybe not quite a silk purse but definitely a major improvement.
The air over hydraulic brakes on my Kauffman max 6 were the biggest unsafest pos I have ever operated.
So I set out to see if I could figure out how to improve them and this is what I came up with last month.
I called dexter axle engineering in Indiana and had them design me 3 10,000 lb HD single wheel axels.
I also had one engineered for antilock brakes so the trailer would remain dot legal.
I then ordered them thru my local redneck trailer supply.
It took dexter about two and half weeks to build them to spec and deliver them to my local redneck trailer supply dealer with no freight charge.
I brought them home and my son and I installed them and then plumbed all the air lines and they were a perfect fit without issue.
After that I drove the trailer up to the alignment shop in Albany ny and had them aligned.
WOW is all I can say!
What a difference to have a good set of effective dependable brakes that will stop you easily when loaded instead of those useless air over hydraulic things.
I’m sure the linings will last a whole lot longer too as they are a wider brake shoe and a thicker lining.

 

This set up fits my needs perfectly for my particular operation which is kind of a seasonal thing for me.
The change I made is just switching from 10,000# air over hydraulic axles to 10,000# air brake axels.
As far as weight goes I regularly haul six vehicles and never come close to my max weight or being over on my tractor or trailer axels
When I scale I am usually around 2000# pounds less then my licensed gvw which is 54,500#.
The truck and trailer full of fuel and gear only weighs 28000#s so I can haul six vehicles and not worry about weight or getting above the heavy truck tax weight requirement quite easily.
Not sure on the comment about buying a single axle tractor as that’s exactly what I run.
Maybe the picture will make more sense of what my combination is.

 

You may be thinking of the Kaufman mini 5 that they pull with the smaller trucks.
The max6 is built as a full semi trailer with a stated 48,000# GVW.
The confusing thing to me is why they would build a semi trailer to be pulled by a tractor with air over hydraulic brakes?
What a crazy pos set up I took off it.
They actually took an air brake canister and mounted it to a single port hydraulic brake master cylinder.
The master cylinder had one single brake line that fed all six brakes so any failure in the hydraulic system at all rendered all six brakes inoperative.
The final straw for me was last fall when I had a full load on coming out of Florida and a wheel cylinder let go leaving me with no trailer brakes siting in a rest area on I 75.
As I sat there thinking about the inbound trip I realized that just two days before I came fully loaded down Fancy Gap with that set up.
It was then I knew I needed to make a major change of the brake system.
I don’t know how on earth with all the strick dot laws do they give dot approval to a trailer manufacturer to build a brake system this way.

 

Yes they were.
But compared to almost any V8 car of today it would be considered at the very bottom of the performance class.
I grew up in the middle and end of the great Muscle car era and it was a sad day when the year 1971 came along and it all ended practically over night.
But I am happy that in recent years that we have had a second coming that would put most old school muscle cars to shame.

 

For sure.
Not only 400 hp pick up trucks now but almost no emissions coming out of the tail pipe.
How long do you think it will be before some government or insurance entity puts the brakes on all these new horsepower over achievers like the Hell cat and the dodge Demon?
Heck I remember back in the day being big man around town because I had a 400 Cummins in my big truck when everyone else had 350s or 318 Detroit and one poor soul had a 237 Mack lol.