Chassis and Special Trailers from Bradley Doublelock

Bradley has developed considerable expertise in designing solutions for customers' needs. A team of qualified designers and engineers using 3D Modelling software featuring Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Failure Mode Effect Analsis (FMEA) will ensure that we can develop a trailer or a chassis to meet the demands and duty cycle of the application.

The award winning Sentinel trailer was developed in this way following a customer's request for help.

Sentinel Plant Trailer was designed to ensure safe towing of mini-excavators and road rollers where loading practises would inevitably cause an uneven weight distribution over the two axles resulting in instability of the trailer when being towed.

Bradley's innovative compensated axle design ensures that the weight of the load is distributed evenly over the axles, resulting in all four wheels maintaining the same contact with the road. This ensures that braking effort is also evenly distributed resulting in a controlled towing experience. One of the difficulties in ensuring that the load on the trailer is carried evenly over the axles is that the preponderance or nose load at the coupling point is either far too high or far too low. The Sentinel coupling is fitted with a strain gauge that feeds signals via a micro-processor to advise the operator loading the trailer precisely where to position his excavator. This signal may either be an audible one, much like the proximity warning systems fitted to many cars or by a traffic light style LED array.

Similarly, Bradley has developed a class leading hydraulically controlled chassis lowering sytem that allows the operator of a catering trailer, to cite one example, to lower his trailer when he gets to his retail location such that it appears to be a kiosk and at a much more friendly level than a conventional catering trailer. This is described in more detail in the Axles section.