Piston Water Cooled Brake Upgrade – WPT Power’s Air Tube Conversion Kits

One of WPT’s strengths is offering engineered improvements into existing designs. WPT makes performance, service life, and ongoing maintenance all added benefits when using a WPT Clutch, Brake or PTO. In this article we are focusing on the Water Cooled Brake (WCB) air tube conversion kits. This is taking a competitor WCB, actuated by a pneumatic piston, and converting it into an Air Tube actuated product.

The Precision Benefit

The first benefit of the airtube conversion kit is possibly the most important one in many applications. It provides the ability to dial-in braking torque thereby increasing the usability of your existing WCB. This is achieved because the air tube has no resistance to movement allowing for small changes in pressure. This creates precision and sensitivity in torque control that is difficult to achieve, even with a dual pneumatic piston. So, with the airtube conversion, there are no more compromises with the stick-slip nature of the of pneumatic piston.

The Uncomplicated Benefit

The next benefit is the simplicity of installation and the elimination of the costly replacement cylinder, piston, and seals. A WPT airtube conversion kit replaces these components with an air tube holding plate, airtube, and pressure plate. These kits also include the associated hardware like nuts and washers to make the exchange. WPT eliminates these wear components that are subject to corrosion. Worn cylinder bores effecting the seal performance and life, field maintenance, and application ingress is a substantial, ongoing cost saving.

The Built-in Benefit

Another benefit is the air tubes themselves are inherently corrosion resistant and don’t require any additional treatments. This makes them ideal for severe marine environment or other harsh applications. Only requiring a pressure control value and regulator, WPT’s airtube eliminates expensive and complicated control systems needed to make a piston style product perform. The benefits mentioned are standard on all WPT Power’s WCB’s.

Piston designs and spares are available, but we always recommend our upgrade with the conversion kit due to the all the features outlined above. In addition, you will see dramatic upfront costs savings between our conversion kit and a new cylinder and piston purchase. When the time comes, talk with WPT Power, and let us show you how this solution can benefit you. A table is included below to outline the appropriate kit for sizes 18”, 24” and 36”:

For more information, please visit the WPT Power website or call us at 940.761.1971.