Video Transcript for All About the Dexter Brake Actuator w/ Drop

Michael: Hi there, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Today, we're going to take a quick look at the Titan brake actuator. This is a hydraulic actuator that is going to synchronize your trailer's hydraulic drum brakes with the brakes on your tow vehicle so that your trailer can slow and stop itself. So you're not relying on your tow vehicle to slow and stop both which can obviously add some burden and wear to your tow vehicle's brakes. So this is going to help alleviate that so that your trailer is taking on some of that load for itself.The way that these surge brake systems work, if you're not familiar, so as your tow vehicle is pulling your trailer along, if it starts to slow down, the momentum from your trailer is going to continue to push it forward and then this arm is going to telescope in which will then apply the pressure to your hydraulic system and apply the brakes so that it will start slowing and breaking on its own.This does have a unique roller design that's going to help reduce any resistance during that telescoping action. So you're not going to have to worry about it binding up and not applying the brakes; it's going to be nice and smooth, it's going to create that straight line movement so that you make sure that your brakes are being applied.

This is a very heavy-duty sturdy, durable steel construction so it's going to resist any bending, even in a jackknife situation. It's going to be very heavy-duty and durable. It's got a towing capacity of 20,000 pounds with a max tongue weight, which is the downward pressure on your ball, of 2000 pounds. The coupler is your standard heavy duty coupler. It's going to accept a two and five 16th inch ball.

It does have this two inch drop here. You can see it's very important that you keep your trailer level so you're not bottoming out in the back or the front. So that three inch drop there is going to make sure that your taller trailers can connect and stay level.This does have the breakaway kit included. So this chain will connect to your tow vehicle so that if you we're to come disconnected from your coupler, it's going to apply the brakes so the trailer can stop itself rather than bouncing down the road on its own. To get this installed, it is a weld on installation so it's going to work with your three inch wide channel tongue.

To get this mounted in place will just require a little bit of welding there. Because this model does not include a reverse lockout, the same principle that's going to make it stop when your trailer's getting pushed towards your tow vehicle, if you we're to go into reverse in your towed vehicle, that is going to cause the arm to telescope in which will apply your brakes so you are going to want to have breaks that are capable of free backing, free backing brakes on your trailer so that you will be able to back up when you're connected to your trailer. Otherwise as you're backing up, it will bind up and cause the brakes to be applied.You can see, we've got our greasers over here to make sure that everything is staying lubricated. A very elegant, simple system. Now, all of the hydraulic lines and everything are not included, you'll have to provide those yourself, but you probably already have those on your trailer, so just the actuator here.

You can see it does have a primed finish, so it can be painted to match your color scheme if you care about that or to just give it a nice fresh, clean look. It does come with a one-year warranty from Titan so I think this is going to be a great option for those of you who need that three inch drop for your trailer and who have that 20,000 pound trailer towing capacity for your towing needs, I think this is going to be a great option for you.That's going to complete our look at the Titan brake actuator. Again, I'm Michael with etrailer.com, thanks for watching.