Why only one disk-brake in the rear of the commander??

locked rear diff....

Thank u allbent for the answer

Hey Mike... Welcome to the forum...some are looking into an aftermarket 4th caliper fix too...I know 1 aftermarket company that has it on their list. Guess we'll have to see if its needed...you would've thought that BRP would have added it if it was needed for most users...

Thank u for the info...i guess we have to wait and see if it does need the extra disk or not in real conditions.....

Welcome from the coast of Oregon....Barbara

BTW we feel that in the sand where we ride the most the braking is sufficient..when we took our test ride (which was in the dunes) we never had to use the brakes as soon as you let off the throttle it almost came to a complete stop even going downhill....

IMHO the additional caliper is not needed for braking , however from the stand point of abusing the Diff and CVs it should be there.

All of you will be awe-struck at the engine/compression braking abilities of the Rotax setup in the commander....I would suggest getting a lot of seat-time in before laying down the $$$ for extra braking components.....you prolly won't need more braking power unless you're all-out racing it....just remember to dry them after fording streams before getting in a panic situation....JMO....Lance

Great advice Lance, TY.
Yeah, I was told by the facory rep...who was so surprised when I pointed out that there was just one rear calliper that she called one of the factory service techs... that the rear locking diff brakes both rear wheels so there is no need for the extra brake line and all that extra maintenance associated with an added calliper and brake pads (less weight too I guess, lol).

I think some have a concern that braking is only being applied to one side of the axle and therefore, not applying equal pressure to the differential.

Needs to be thought of more like a sport quad. Take for example a 450 sport quad has a "live" axle and only uses one rear disk. Also the rear brakes only do about 35% at most of the braking.
As for wear and tear on the axles and the diff, I think the 85hp will beat them up more then a single disk stopping a 1300lb SXS.

I'm guessing the guys that came up with this idea are mechanical engineers who did the mathematical calculations and determined it would work fine. I don't think there is any "guess work" going on here. After all the thought and engineering they put into the Commanders I doubt they tried to save a buck by removing one of the rear discs.

01Cummins said:

Also the rear brakes only do about 35% at most of the braking.
As for wear and tear on the axles and the diff, I think the 85hp will beat them up more then a single disk stopping a 1300lb SXS.

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I'm in on your thoughts too Jason.....I'll bet some of the engineering of that front "anti-dive" system is in part that the braking system is heavily proportioned towards the front discs thru a proportioning valve setup (or thru speed sensors and the ECM?).....and much less braking is done on the back, like you say, 65%/35% sounds like reasonable good numbers.....so don't be alarmed when you see the front pads are needing replacement but the back pads still have at least 50% wear left...it's a possibility if this braking system is engineered this way

Factory UTV said:

I'm guessing the guys that came up with this idea are mechanical engineers who did the mathematical calculations and determined it would work fine. I don't think there is any "guess work" going on here. After all the thought and engineering they put into the Commanders I doubt they tried to save a buck by removing one of the rear discs.

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Agreed......and as DP mentioned, some guys forget/didn't know the axle is essentially one piece....

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So why did CanAm engineer the brake caliper on one side of the axle instead of on the front of the diff attached to the rear of the driveline?...Bueller?..........Lance

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I guess I will have to disagree a little on brake biasing for offroad applications. Idealy you want the rear brakes to be your lead and the front brakes to be your kag. Unlike hardtop surfaces the dirt allows your front wheels to push so much easyer. Meaning you can not steer well on dirt when using front brakes. I originally had my Woodsbugy brakes set up on one master with a biasing valve on the front to back off the front. I found that it still pushed when down to 25%. So I seperated them and Installed a master cylinder with a handle. I located it on my left frame tube so I can easyly grab it with my hand. My Honda Pilot mini Buggys come from the factory with seperate masters on the steering yoke for the same reason.

Odyknuck said:

I guess I will have to disagree a little on brake biasing for offroad applications. Idealy you want the rear brakes to be your lead and the front brakes to be your kag. Unlike hardtop surfaces the dirt allows your front wheels to push so much easyer. Meaning you can not steer well on dirt when using front brakes. I originally had my Woodsbugy brakes set up on one master with a biasing valve on the front to back off the front. I found that it still pushed when down to 25%. So I seperated them and Installed a master cylinder with a handle. I located it on my left frame tube so I can easyly grab it with my hand. My Honda Pilot mini Buggys come from the factory with seperate masters on the steering yoke for the same reason.

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Can you post a pic of your woodsbuggy??...It's killing me trying to figure out what your referring to...I wanna see it!....I need woods-ducated........

EDIT* Oh is that it in your avatar?.....Lance

If its anything like my Renegade, the rear end will become "loose" in two wheel drive when you let off the gas and hit the brakes. The rotax and clutching on my Renegade have a lot of braking in the motor alone. Now when in 4x4 all brakes are going to be working together as one. I still bet you will go threw front pads way before the rears.

That is one fine ride sir,
S!

1000XT said:

That is one fine ride sir,
S!

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Thank You. You might like my current project Here is a link to it. Its a 1990 Honda Pilot that I am grafting a 700 Twin Rotax 2 stroke motor in. I streached the frame to get it in there and to also give it more stability for the 126HP the motor puts out. I also scrapped the .065 wall cage and made my own out of 1 3/8" .095 DOM. Note: The pics are from current to the beginning so they are backwards.

Pilot Build pictures by Odyknuck - Photobucket

In case any of you are interested in the official response from Can-Am in regards to why a single rear brake.

Can-Am Off-Road said:

Thanks for the question, Michael. BRP designed the Can-Am Commander with a single rear brake because the brake distribution from front to back is mainly toward the front, which allows the use of a single brake at the rear while keeping efficient braking power.

And since both rear axles are linked, when the brake is applied, it slows both rear wheels even though there is only one caliper and disc. It also saves some weight, which contributes to the Can-Am Commander’s best power-to-weight ratio in its respective class.

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