Best Ford F-350 Super Duty Brake Actuators

5 Year Follow-up: Worked GREAT until... Failed after 3-4 years (3000+/- miles). Sent back to Hydrastar for a rebuild, but was told that it was too far gone & I'll need a new actuator. The only possible cause of failure that I can think of would be water mixed in the brake fluid, so CHANGE YOUR BRAKE FLUID at least yearly. Especially if you live in a humid state like Florida. Apparently it's not sealed like an automotive system and allows moisture from the air to mix with the brake fluid. Wish I had known this before. I don't recall a marine version when I bought this, so I'll look at that for my next actuator.

Excellent service, exceptional shipping speed. One tab was bent when received but no other damage was apparent. I straightened the aluminum in a bench vise and will have it installed..

Great brake actuator.

The reason I gave it only four stars is because the subject Hydrastar Actuator I purchased a year ago replaced the same actuator I installed 2.5 years prior as part of a complete uprade of our Airstream trailer with six disc brakes and the extensive hydraulic lines required to make this triple axle trailer work. The previous Hydrastar Actuator worked for exactly 5,100 miles. It failed with out any warning during an extensive trip to California and then east to Texas! It simply quit internally. With the help of your company I called the manufacturer; in good modern-day unresponsive fashion I bounced into their voicemail. I realize it was six months beyond the two year warranty period. I did not expect a brand-new one from them. Rather my expectation was that would take mine in and diagnose and rebuild it on my dime or at their cost!? Since I never heard from them and I was planning to sell the trailer and wanted everything to work for the new owner I held my nose and bought the unit you are inquiring about now. I works as designed with about 20 miles on it. The trailer is still for sale as of this writing and will hopefully go to a new owner soon.

The actuator works flawless and connected right up to where the previous unit was. The orginal unit had been submerged under water by the previous boat owner. I highly recommend E trailer for all your parts.

When the OEM steel brake lines wore out on my boat trailer I decided to upgrade the surge brakes to electric over hydraulic (EOH). I replaced the damaged lines and wired up this Demco actuator and now I can stop my trailer on a dime -- should have done this 10 years ago. The actuator works flawlessly with my 2017 GMC's built in controller -- nothing else was needed! Please note though that the GM controller does not apply the brakes when depressing the pedal if the vehicle is not moving (duh). So don't be surprised if you try to test it sitting in your driveway and think that it's not working -- it's designed that way to save wear on the pump if you're not moving. Pressing the manual control does apply the brakes though. (The brakes also apply if you're on an incline). I fabricated a mounting plate out of 3/8 aluminum since the trailer tongue was not wide enough and attached the pump using 4 countersunk 1/4" stainless bolts and then used two 1/2" square u-bolts to affix it to the trailer. If I set the gain on the truck to max, I can actually lock the trailer's wheels, something that surge brakes can't do on their best day! Back in 2010 I upgraded my disc brakes to Kodiak all stainless steel rotors, mounting plates and calipers -- 8 years old and they were still like new -- also well worth the money!

just what I order at a good price & quick delivery arrive 3 days early

Only have taken one test drive, but it is so much better than surge brakes. No more slamming during takeoff. Much stronger than my surge setup. The install was straight-forward using the video and other folks pictures. I stole the stand idea from one of the other users here and it worked very well. I chose to drive bolts through the tongue to lock the existing actuator into place after removing the guts of it. This is because the tongue on my trailer is 3.3" wide and I would have had to get a new tongue welded on. This seems to do as good of a job with much lower cost. My only complaints are with the electrical box. It seems I received a much cheaper one that was shown in the videos. The bus snapped in instead of screwing/rivet and it kept popping out. The entire box cracked during the install, so I threw it out and bought another one from a local shop. Additionally, I didn't get the full compliment of connectors, instead they were already installed on the cable. The problem is I didn't need 8ft of cable, so I had to cut those off and go get other connectors. All in all, I am very happy with the EOH system vs surge and I would buy this again and again.

The reason for 4 stars is in photo 1, the junction box is by far the cheapest and worst junction box I have ever had the pleasure of putting together, and I have installed many of them. My local suppliers junction boxes make this junction box look well let the imagination roam on this one, TERRIBLE. Again the break away setup in my opinion is sub par, not well built, though which break away system now a day's is they are all cheap. The 7 way harness as well is sub par, I have hand built better. The actuator, very interesting and a little different, not to sure about the quality, only time will tell, it does seem to be working and working well at this point. Stops trailer and tow vehicle on just trailer brakes alone, impressive.

The controller is still working. It tends to run at a low rate even when we're not braking, but perhaps it's something with our pickup or trailer wiring.

Product came damaged.

I recently upgraded my trailer from an electric brake system to an electric over hydraulic brake system. I had heard good things about the actuator that etrailer sells, so I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. The actuator made the upgrade very easy. It was very easy to install, and it works fantastically. I would definitely recommend it to anyone considering an upgrade to their trailer brakes.

the unit itself is easy to install and is working great,I bought it last March/April and unpackaged it and installed on during off season in Dec. and noticed the fill cap broken during shipping to Canada, etrailer said they would not replace the $XX.00 cap because too much time has passsed,so un package ASAP. Otherwise there prices are great.

Really like the disc brake conversion I did on my wolfpack toyhauler. Went with 8 lug hubs and wheels at the same time.

These are the pics I took when I was done. Took two days to do but we'll worth it. I took pics after first load and now it feels good to actually stop with out wondering if the magnets were going to fail. I appreciate the fast shipping . The only thing I had to pick up was 25 feet of brake line,15 feet was not going to be anough . Other then this. I love it. Thank you very much and God bless

Device is sturdy and put together well. My problem was when I unloaded it I could not for the life of me get the coupler to unlatch from my trailer hitch. Despite numerous attempts to get creative, I finally had to remove the hitch from my truck and drive off, and my trailer hitch is still attached to the coupler just hanging there. Disappointed.

Trailer coupler was delivered on time. It bolted up to the trailer ok. However, a disc brake lock out solenoid is in a separate box contained in the shipping box. It threads into the surge brake fluid outlet ok, but the solenoid outlet thread and end shape is a mystery that sent me running around town to locate a fitting with the right thread and shape. Very frustrating that the kit did not have a fitting that would convert to something standard. Still searching after two days of searching. Makes this kit relatively worthless til you solve this problem.

Reps are friendly and helpful.

Spring on the lever broke almost immediately after installation.

Got my Brake Actuator so fast. I love that these guys have so much stock, amazing prices, and do customer service the old fashioned way!!! Thank you etrailer.com??

I would rate customer service at 5, products at 4 only because I haven't installed them yet and shipping at 1 because electric brake controller was boxed with jack and hitch both heavy items and box was ripped open from shipping which is not your fault but controller was pinched between jack and hitch.

Outstanding addition to my Reflection 5th wheel. Back from 7000 mile trip to Canada and no problems whatsoever. One panic stop and brakes were very effective. With over 80,000 on my trailer this is this first trip without some kind of brake issue: broken wire, needs adjustment, put together incorrectly at dealers, etc. I installed the unit myself. Relatively straight forward. I did get confused on the wiring, could have been just me, but a separate wiring diagram for a 5th wheel might help. I didn't realize (and probably should have) that the emergency brake needs to get it's hot from the existing trailer battery and the main braking control has to get it's hot from the truck. All of this can be done in the pin box and is actually pretty straight forward. Great product. Should have installed years ago.

Trust the reviews on EOH conversion. Hands down the best upgrade I've made with this boat trailer. Can't comment on other brands but the Hydrastar has been flawless. Easy upgrade to DIY -- took maybe half an afternoon.

Excellent brake actuator.

free shipping and the trailer hitch came very quickly, I replacing the hitch on my old bigo trailer that the master cylinder went out on. plus everything is very loose from hard use.

I pulled my boat for 1,500 miles soon after replacing the old pump. Brakes were effective and worked perfect. That was a year ago. Last week I launched my boat for the first time since then. No brakes. After a lot of contact cleaner, plugging and unplugging the cable to the truck, exercising the brake actuator, I finally got the pump to work again. That was the reason I replaced the original pump which was inop because of not being used. If you don't use it, you will lose it. It is a very expensive part. Dexter will not sell you the electronic pressure proportional valve that gets gummed up causing the pump to fail. Dexter will not give you the part number for that valve. Unfortunately, the stamped part number got obliterated part number during removal was unreadable. This was a very expensive lesson to learn, $1,069.98. In the future I will be exceptional careful when removing the valve should I have another failure. That valve will probably sell for less than $100.00. As far as Etrailer is concerned, they are the best when it comes to shipping quickly and helping the customer get what he needs.

I am most please that this company stands by their product and is a pleasure to deal with!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not a fan because of the screw down and up for ball attachment. Unit Itself works great.

Product was as ordered. Shipped promptly. Only been used two times and works fine

Was a great tease, received box 4 of 4 and had to wait until Monday for the rest to arrive, the boxes were a bit hammered, and when a caliper mount bolt fell out I was worried how many other bolts had gotten lost, but everything was there. Service was great, free shipping, these were heavy boxes, and they are tough to pack well so they don't pop open. Thanks to the order staff and especially Sammi G for getting my order straightened out from my miss ordered parts, will be ordering my trailer parts from them again!

Actuator has worked flawlessly for a year now on our 27 ft. travel trailer. Too bad I didn't get the correct sized brake line with the parts; had to wait for over a week for the replacement. And the break away pin that came with the kit broke while I tried pulling it out before I even installed it. Contacted etrailer and they said a new one would be sent to me. I'm still waiting after a year!

Easy online ordering and excellent customer service.

Delivery was very fast. Quality seems very good. Installation was super easy since my Shorelander swing tongue trailer has this standard hole pattern. I love how it looks and the extra foot of distance I get between the boat and my tow vehicle (so less chance of needing to get my feet wet or crawl through the SUV).

Initially receiving The actuator it was missing the cap that covered the rubber plug to the hydraulic reservoir and the manual lockout key, but after contacting etrailer , they quickly sent out the parts. The hitch was easy to install, and it works as it should.

Updating my old surge brake coupler, I really like this Dexter DX7.5L A-60 Brake Actuator w Electric Lockout - Bolt On - Disc - 2" Ball - Zinc - 7.5K fits 3”x4”trailer tongue, it was easy to install, I did have to drill new holes, I just wish the manufacturer would have included the bolts and the information on how much to torque the bolts to, it’s about “2 drop from my old coupler. etrailer was super fast with shipping !

Great replacement for a damaged actuator. A plan came together and it don't get much better.

This is a nice easy to use hitch. This is the 3rd one purchased for boat trailer hitch replacement. Really like the drop and go feature.

I put this on an easy loader trailer that had an Atwood master cylinder which is now obsolete. Cutting the old actuator off was a real bitch. Installing the new Dexter actuator was very easy. I could bend the existing brake line 180 and hook it directly up without having to change the end. The bolts were easily available at the hardware store, I wish they would have came with it. The quality of the drop and go hitch is unbelievably easy to use.