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If you’re ready to move beyond the inconsistent feel of drum brakes, this Kodiak 13" disc brake kit is a solid upgrade. Built for 8,000-lb Dexter axles with 16" and larger wheels, the cast iron rotors and calipers deliver more braking torque for shorter stopping distances and smoother control. With only one moving part in each caliper, maintenance stays simple and performance stays consistent even at highway speeds.
Rust and saltwater can wreck a brake system fast. This kit uses Dacromet-plated cast iron rotors, calipers, and brackets rated for 300- to 400-hour salt spray protection. It’s designed to hold up in freshwater or saltwater environments without giving up braking power. The durable finish keeps parts looking clean and working right season after season.
Heavy towing builds heat quickly, but these vented rotors dissipate it efficiently to prevent fade and protect components. The slip-on, over-the-hub design fits over standard idler hubs and is held in place by the wheel bolts—no need to replace the whole assembly if only the rotor gets damaged. It’s a design that makes maintenance easier and helps the brakes stay cool under load.
Kodiak’s cast iron calipers resist flexing to give even pressure across the ceramic pads for reliable, smooth braking. The stainless steel piston is 2-1/4" in diameter—about 30 percent larger than many brands—adding extra braking torque when you need it most. Heavy-duty ductile iron mounting brackets use a side-support design so the load sits on the bracket instead of the bolts, giving you a tight, secure fit that lasts.
Everything needed for one axle is included—two Dacromet rotors, two calipers, two mounting brackets, and stainless mounting bolts. The 4-bolt flange configuration bolts right up once your weld-on flange is in place. Add a hydraulic actuator rated at least 1,500 psi and lines (sold separately), and you’ve got a dependable disc setup that installs cleanly without complicated adjustments.
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Speaker 1: Today we're going to be taking a look at the Kodiak line of Disc Brake Kits. Now, these kits are available in multiple configurations to fit multiple size axles. They're also available in several different finishes.A disc brake kit like this one from Kodiak is an excellent solution to give us good braking force. Typically, for this kit anyway, you're looking at like a 3500-pound axle. A lot of boat applications, you're hauling a boat sometimes miles and miles and miles, and without brakes on your trailer, you put a lot of unnecessary stress and strain on your truck. A braking kit like this allows us to take the stress, the strain off the braking system on our truck but also gives us a safer ride.In this application we've got a surge coupler at the front of the trailer, so as the truck slows it applies the hydraulic fluid pressure, squeezing our caliper together giving us excellent stopping abilities.
The rotors, calipers, and the ceramic pads are all automotive grade, so they're going to be made to the highest standards being sure we get excellent braking capabilities.Now when we compare a disc brake kit like this to a hydraulic drum-style brake, there are several advantages. Of course, we all know disc brakes tend to work better than drum brakes. They lock up less. We typically don't have the moisture being held inside. Especially in a marine application, that hub fills up with water, that moisture stays inside, causes some corrosion issues.
In this situation, once we bring these out of the water, everything's going to drain away. Air can get to it very readily and dry everything up.Another advantage we're going to get with this particular kit over the other disc brake kits available, the material composition is very corrosion-resistant. Our rotor, caliper, all stainless steel, plus they take that a step further, put a Dacramet finish all the way around. So that's going to work out really well, especially in a marine application like this, but also just on a utility trailer, keeping everything nice, corrosion-free. It's also going to be an excellent, excellent choice if you use it in a saltwater-type application.Something else you'll notice, pretty common on automobile applications, not usually on trailers, is going to be the ventilated rotor here.
So you've got two wear surfaces here and here. Those are going to be separated to allow air to flow freely in there and get everything cooled off to give us premium braking performance every time we hit those brakes.All right. With the bracket installed, we can move onto installing our rotor. That's one of the big benefits I like about this kit. You don't have the whole disc with the hub assembly in it.
So if you ever need to replace the disc, you're just replacing the disc, not your entire hub. This is going to fit right on our idler hub just like that, very common on automobile applications. They call this more like a top hat rotor where it it slides over your lugs, and then your wheel is actually going to hold that in and flush.Next, we'll move on to getting our caliper installed. Now the calipers can go either side. You don't have to have a left and a right. You can see we've got a bleeder screw on both sides. We want, of course, for our hydraulic connection to be facing in. Our slide bolts are going to come in this way just like that, and then these two portions are going to go on the back side of our bracket. So we slide that over, bring it in, and then we'll just push our bolts in, line them up with our holes and get them started. Now those do have loctite on them, so you'll just get them started a little bit, and then we'll use a 13mm socket and snug them on down.Now that we've got those snugged down, we'll use our torque wrench and we're going to torque them down to the specifications listed in the instructions. With our brake assemblies in place, it's time at this point to install our tire back on. Now, we do recommend using a torque wrench and torquing these down properly per the 1/2" stud application. Something we've seen, especially in the automobile industry, if you tighten these lug nuts down too much, you might cause that rotor to warp a little, decreasing your performance. That's going to complete our look at the Kodiak line of Disc Brake Kits.
Customer Satisfaction Score:
92% were satisfied with this product
8% of customers were not satisfied
Ratings & Reviews
Jeff O.
1/21/2019
I want to thank you again for your assistance in getting me the correct parts for my trailer brake installation. I took three major road trips with the boat last year and the trailer brakes worked flawlessly. The major reasons I installed the braking system were: the overall weight of the boat and trailer in relationship to my pickup 2006 F150 and braking performancesafety on wetslick roads. Both of these concerns were tested last year with wonderful results. I have been telling my friends, with similar trailer packages, to investigate your product. Thanks again,
Hank B.
5/16/2014
They are still excellent in performance and quality.
Albert
4/6/2020
Been a year, brakes are so responsive and work so much better will never rely on the old way further. Still working great, never any problem and have never experienced any fade. Switch now and enjoy the added safety.
Lazer S.
9/25/2026
Sorry about that. I will see if I can get that added to the page to make it clear. Typically the bolts from the previous brakes are used to install the brackets, but it should be made clear that they aren't included with the new parts. What kind of trailer did you install these on?
Tommy
7/2/2023
Disc brake installation went smooth and easy. It would have been better to have the adapter plate mounting hardware. One think to note about these Kodiak disc brakes, the bleeder valve is a two part valve. Be sure to open the 516 hex bleeder screw and not the 38 screw in bushingseat.
Chris K.
3/19/2016
they work great, i put them in my 06 Range boat trailer and know i have breaks once again.
Ralph
10/8/2022
Excellent, completely satisfied!
Don
7/28/2017
Slide pins fall out. Apply extra loctite when installing. Otherwise still working good.
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Steve D.
8/8/2017
The brakes have been troublefree and make a huge improvement in highway and mountain driving