Demco Hydraulic Brake Actuator w/ Electric Lockout - Disc - Zinc Plated - 2" Ball - 8,600 lbs

Video Transcript for Demco Brake Actuator - Surge Brake Actuator - 8608611 Review

Today were going to review part number 8608611. This is the Demco DA86 Hydraulic Actuator with the 2-inch easy latch coupler. This is a bolt-on surge brake actuator which will control the disc brakes on your trailer. It is a bolt-on installation, uses these three mounting holes on each side of the coupler. It is designed to fit a straight-tongue coupler that has a channel width of 3 inches, and it fits on a 2-inch hitch ball. It does have an electric solenoid which is for reverse lockout.

Now the surge brake actuator couplers they are designed that when you apply the brakes in your tow vehicle, this will attach to the hitch ball on your tow vehicle, so when you apply the brakes in your tow vehicle and you slow down, the deceleration occurs, the momentum of the weight of the trailer will move forward toward the rear of the vehicle, and this will cause the actuator which is right here underneath, right here is the actuator, so when that compresses it will cause that actuator to apply pressure to the push rod of the master cylinder which in turn will supply hydraulic pressure to the brakes on the trailer. So the weight of the trailer will brake as this will be hooked to the tow vehicle and as this compresses you can see the slots right here where it will slide and compress. That actuator will control the master cylinder which will then apply the brakes and cause the trailer to stop. This part does have a zinc plating which will help protect the actuator in marine application, does include I mentioned, the electric lockout which is this solenoid right here. Now this solenoid does have two wires, one of them would be grounded, the other one would need to be connected to the reverse light circuit on your tow vehicle so when installing this with the electric solenoid you would have to have at least a 5-way connector on your vehicle so you can connect in to the reverse lights to actuate the solenoid.

And what that solenoid does is its actually a reverse lockout feature. In other words, if youre in your car or truck and youre backing up with your trailer connected, you do not want the brakes to be applied as youre backing up so it would automatically apply them. What this lockout does is when you connect this to your reverse light circuit when you put your vehicle in reverse, it will actuate this solenoid right here on the back. That solenoid will actually block the pressure going to the trailer brakes so then you can reverse and the brakes would not be applied on your trailer. It also comes with this nice cover you can see bolted on that will protect the solenoid from any damage.

A few nice features on this, has the master cylinder cap right up here which if we can remove it I can show you. It has a nice rubber diaphragm which is like an automotive-style diaphragm which will completely enclose the brake system. The master cylinder right here has a raised fill plate which will prevent any dirt or grime that might be built up on top of your actuator so when you take the cap off it might fall in. With it being raised like this it will keep that from happening prevents it from entering the master cylinder. Now the master cylinder itself is made of a long glass fiber which is a reinforced nylon and this is a composite material which will add strength and the nice thing is it will eliminate any rust or corrosion because being a composite material theres no chance for it to rust or corrode, and the cylinder itself actually has 20% more capacity to insure adequate fluid supply.

Also on the master cylinder there is a bellow boot which in on the push rod of the master cylinder and this will help prevent any moisture and dirt from getting inside the cylinder. Youll see on the very top here, it has this breakaway lever and it is color coded. You can see where it says, Red. Brakes on. Do not tow. Green it will says, Brakes off. Towable. And basically what this breakaway lever does is just to show you how you hook that up and this is required, has a hook on one end with a keeper and a cable connected to the lever. What you will do is take this, hook it up to the tow vehicle so that in a case of where by chance if the trailer happens to become detached from the hitch ball and is loose, this will pull on the cable which would pull this lever, this breakaway lever, and what that will do is again this will allow the master cylinder to allow pressure to go to the brakes to actually stop the trailer from a runaway situation. So thats why you would need to for safety reasons hook up this breakaway lever thats on top. And, one of the nicest features this has, very unique feature, is called the easy latch coupler and the nice thing about that is this is designed to fit on a 2-inch hitch ball as I have an example right here. So what you would do is most couplers when you go to attach it to the hitch ball on the tow vehicle youll have to pull up on the latch just like that and hook it up and then close the latch and lock it into place. This one eliminates having to lift up the latch. Basically, what you can do is go up and put this onto the hitch ball and using the weight of the trailer it will just automatically push down and latch the ball into place, automatically lock. The only time you need to use this latch is to pull up on it to release it from the hitch ball. Otherwise, again, just to show you how this connects again, put it on to the hitch ball and just the weight will push down on it and connect it. Its called the easy latch coupler. Very nice feature. That should do it for the review on part number 8608611, the Demco DA86 Hydraulic Actuator with the 2-inch easy latch coupler.