This actuator comes unassembled and unprimed, which makes welding it onto a straight 3" wide trailer tongue simple and clean. Since the internal parts aren’t installed yet, you can weld without worrying about heat damage to the master cylinder or seals. Once it’s mounted, you can prime and paint it to match your trailer. It’s ready for anyone fabricating a custom setup that fits their own design.
With a 20,000-lb gross towing weight and a 2,000-lb maximum tongue weight rating, this actuator is built for serious hauling. The heavy-duty steel construction holds up under demanding use, making it a solid choice for trailers that carry equipment or materials every day. The weld-on design gives lasting strength where bolt-on options might not be ideal.
The composite master cylinder uses glass-reinforced nylon that resists rust and corrosion. Its large reservoir gives more brake fluid capacity, helping maintain consistent pressure for smooth braking. The automotive-style diaphragm cap keeps the system sealed so moisture and debris stay out, keeping your hydraulic drum brakes working reliably.
The built-in breakaway lever engages the trailer’s brakes automatically if it ever becomes disconnected from the tow vehicle. A snap hook on the safety cable keeps the connection secure. Inside, an acetal copolymer lining helps the actuator telescope smoothly as it applies braking force, giving dependable performance when you need it most.
As momentum pushes the trailer forward when slowing or stopping, the surge mechanism compresses and applies hydraulic pressure through the master cylinder to activate the drum brakes. It’s a proven setup that doesn’t rely on electrical connections or controllers—just mechanical force doing its job efficiently every time.
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hello, neighbors, it's Brad here from etrailer and today I'm in Boyden, Iowa at the Demco headquarters and manufacturing facility where we got to see Demco products made. And these are all products that I handle on a daily basis when doing flat tows, fifth wheels, or even couplers. They cover so many different towing products and they have plenty of experts here to break down some of their products a little bit more to give you some understanding as well as allow me to ask those questions on products that I handle every day. So, Carter, what do we have here So, this is DA86 brake actuator model. This one is designed for disc brakes. We do also offer for drum brakes, as well, depending on what your trailer actually has on itself.
The nice thing about our actuators, they are all hydraulic-based, so they are all inertia-based. As you back up with the trailer, the brakes are applied as you back up and then going forward, obviously, when you come to a stop, the inertia on the inner slide tube itself will engage this as it's necessary. That will allow the brake fluid inside of the master cylinder reservoir here to go throughout the brakes. Brad So, what's the typical application for this So, this one here, this would be on smaller utility trailers, marine trailers, boat trailers. Obviously, with that as well, the plated finish here, a lot of marine applications will use that to prevent rusting.
That's kind of the main user for this. This is a light duty, so this is actually rated at 8,600 pounds. We do offer anything from 7,000 up to 20,000-pound actuators. So if I'm adding this to a trailer or replacing an old one, what's installation look like Yeah, so this one itself is a standard three-hole application. A lot of OEMs out there, trailer manufacturers out there, will have this standard three-bolt system on it.
We do have weld-on features, as well. A-frame options, definitely depends on what your trailer has as far as the application goes. We do kind of pride ourselves on flexibility with mounting applications, as well. So, it's designed to mount on a standard three-inch tongue, that's kind of industry standard out in the market. Basically, with this one, obviously, you'll have those three bolts that will allow you to take your existing one off, put this one on and away you go.
This red tab is catching my attention. I'm assuming that this is a lockout It is, you are correct, yes. So, most disc brake actuators will come standard with an electric lockout on the backside. Usually you have either a bypass solenoid or an inline solenoid that will just have two wires connecting to it. One's a power, one is a ground source. If there is a case where the ground is not proper, the solenoid isn't functioning like it's designed to, this is where this manual lockout comes into play. The nice thing with that, basically, all you would have to do in a standard situation, it would be down like that, flip the tab up. As soon as you back up, that does not allow for this inner slide tube to move in and apply those brakes. And then as soon as you pull forward with this, this tab would actually fall out of the way, that'll allow you to go in a normal state. Brad So, a nice little backup plan in case electronics aren't working, which I can imagine marine applications is probably one of those Right, yes, absolutely. So, obviously you wanna get your boat in the water. Best way to do that is to, obviously, backup with that. You don't wanna have the brakes apply when you do that. Obviously, it is a frustrating situation when the solenoid isn't working like it's designed to. So that's definitely a nice feature that that manual lockout comes into play. We got to see this manufactured today. Family-owned company here in Iowa, made in the US, so a great product. Carter, thank you for taking the time to show us your surge actuator. Yeah, thanks for stopping over. Appreciate it.
Ratings & Reviews
Super easy installl into existing box. For me there was no welding. All parts were perfect fits and
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