Video Transcript for Hands-On with the Demco Hydraulic Brake Actuator-DM8101222

Hello everybody, this is Jeff at etrailer.com. Today we can take a look at the Demco eight inch adjustable channel center hydraulic drum brake actuator. Has a 12,500 pound gross towing weight capacity and is in a nice prime finish. Now this hydraulic actuator will activate your trailer brakes when your tow vehicle slows or stops. Basically what happens is when you apply the brakes in your tow vehicle, deceleration occurs and the momentum will push your trailer toward the rear of your vehicle. So with this surge brake system, this actuator is then triggered as your trailer moves forward once the tow vehicle starts to slow down.

So when this happens, the actuator inside portion right here will contract, which will apply force to the master cylinder in the back here. And this in turn is what supplies the necessary hydraulic pressure to engage your trailer's brakes. Now this uses an acetal copolymer lining around the inner slide and the outer case, provides a nice smooth operation as the actuator will telescope in and out. This one we mentioned is an adjustable channel design, has three different mounting positions for your coupler. Now the coupler is not included.

We do sell those separately. As we mentioned, this is a channel center design which means if you look at it, this channel right here is centered when you compare it to this outer case, it's pretty much centered the same, equally up or down. Now the height on this channel we mentioned from the bottom to the top is eight inches. The inside width is approximately about three inches inside to inside. Now this is a heavy-duty steel construction, has a nice prime finish on it for better corrosion resistance.

We mentioned the master cylinder back here. It is a composite master cylinder which is very durable and efficient and uses a glass-reinforced nylon construction, resists rust and corrosion. Provides an nice large reservoir to provide increased capacity for your brake fluid. And at the top here, you notice it has the cap where you put your brake fluid in. It's an automotive style diaphragm cap, which creates completely enclosed system to help prevent contamination of the brake fluid.

Right up at the very top here, it does include this breakaway cable with the hook on it. And this is included and it is required by law because it's designed to prevent a trailer runaway situation. Basically, when you hook your trailer up to your tow vehicle, you'll also hook this hook to it, and you'll have this cable that runs to this lever. So in the case, if your trailer ever comes detached from your tow vehicle, it would pull this cable which would activate that lever, which again would supply the pressure to the master cylinder back here and apply the brakes to a runaway situation. So again, it is required by law, so you do have to hook it up. Now this is a weld-on installation. It does mount to a straight three-inch-wide trailer tongue. This part is made in the USA. Application, again, this is for trailers with hydraulic drum brakes, gross towing weight capacity on this is 12,500 pounds, maximum tongue weight of 1,250 pounds. This does go by the model number of DA-10 and one last note I do wanna mention, if you notice in the back here, this actuator does not include a reverse lockout solenoid, which is usually installed to the master cylinder. So it is recommended that you either equip your trailer with the reverse lockout solenoid, which we do sell separately on our website, or to have free backing brakes on your trailer so that you can drive in reverse without the actuator triggering your trailer's brakes. But that's gonna do it for the review on this Demco eight-inch adjustable channel center hydraulic drum brake actuator with the 12,500 pound gross towing weight capacity.