Today we're going to review Atwood's trailer coupler for 2-5/16 balls, part number 80281. This coupler has a gross trailer weight capacity of 15,000 pounds and a tongue weight capacity of 2,250 pounds. It's designed to work with a channel bracket that's already affixed to your trailer. The back of the coupler will fit into the bracket and be secured with these bolts, nuts, and lock washers. We do want to measure the outside width to determine what channel it's compatible with. We get a measurement of about 2-7/8 inches.
The channel bracket on your trailer will look something like this, a piece of steel with a series of holes so you can position the coupler as needed. Now we want to go over how the mechanism works. To open the latch, pull it forward and then we'll slide the whole mechanism back. As we do this, it moves the wedge inside the coupler back and away from the ball to allow enough room to remove it. Push it forward and down and then the wedge moves back into place.
From below, we can see the wedge here that will sit against the back of the trailer ball. Lift up our latch and slide the assembly backwards and now we have enough room to get the ball in or out. We have a 2-5/16 ball, so we can show you how it works with an actual trailer ball. Get the ball in the socket, push the latch system forward and now our ball is secure. It's captive and can't go anywhere, but it moves freely enough that the trailer will track nicely behind the tow vehicle.
We'll lift the latch, pull it back and with the wedge out of the way, we can remove our trailer ball. Now back on top with our latch, you'll notice that there's a hole through the latch handle here. This is so you can use a coupler lock to secure your coupler. It will prevent the latch from coming up so when you're trailering down the road you won't have to worry about accidental unhooking. It'll also serve to protect your trailer if you store it somewhere over the winter.
And that's it for a quick look at the Atwood trailer coupler for 2-5/16 balls part number 80281.
This Old Boat Trailer: Master Cylinder Installation
Today on This Old Boat Trailer we are going to rebuild the hydraulic actuator on here and we are going to be using part number 85841, the master cylinder itself, and then we are going to use a master cylinder replacement cap part number A87478, and the cable push rod replacement kit part number 85852, all from Atwood. The first thing we need to do is remove the old master cylinder itself. This is going to require taking off the cap which we have already done. We have disconnected the line back here already and then we can see our factory line, lets disconnect that and then we are just going to undo these four bolts right here. There is probably going to be some leftover brake fluid in there so it will be a good idea to wear some gloves or something. We are going to pull out the back and then underneath there is a little push rod you may want to pull away from it too to help knock it out. 01:09
This Old Trailer: Installation of a Trailer Coupler
Today on This Old Trailer we are going to install a brand new coupler using part number 2836AT from Master Lock. This is going to be a three inch wide coupler on it and in between here is going to be three inches wide and it is going to use a two inch ball. The first steps involved are to remove the old coupler. It has been on there for awhile. It is rusted so take a couple of wrenches to it and maybe we will get lucky and we will actually break the bolts and get it to come loose that way. This little stand right here got bent back, probably pinching the coupler, so we are going to take that one apart too. Obviously this is rusted in place so we are going to have to persuade it off. 00:59
Replacing A Hydraulic Coupler Demonstration
Today we are going to show you how to replace a hydraulic coupler. In this case this one is damaged and is going to get replaced by a totally different model. First thing we are going to do is actually drain all the fluid from the master cylinder. And what we are actually going to do is open up one of the wheel cylinders and pump our fluid out and into a holding container. All right we will go to the wheel cylinder now and attach a rubber line to the bleeder valve and get our container ready. What we will do is take the cover off our bleeder valve here and we will go ahead and open it up. Okay, here we just take a rubber hose and just slide it on to the bleeder valve itself. All right and then we will just run the other half of the hose into an empty container here and start draining the fluid out of the master cylinder.
