Video Transcript for Comprehensive Review: Demco Hydraulic Brake Actuator-DM8101522

Hello everybody, this is Jeff at etrailer.com. Today I'm gonna take a look at the Demco 12 inch Adjustable Center Channel Hydraulic Drum Brake Actuator. Has a 12,500 pound gross towing weight capacity and has a nice prime finish to it. Now this hydraulic actuator will activate your trailer's 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. And with a surge brake system, this actuator is triggered as your trailer moves forward once the tow vehicle starts to slow down.

And basically when this happens, the inner slide right up here of the actuator will contract and applies force to the master cylinder in the back here. And then this in turn supplies the necessary hydraulic pressure to engage the trailer's brakes and stop the trailer. Now this one uses an acetal copolymer lining between the inner slide tube and the outer case. And that provides a nice smooth operation as the actuator will telescope in and out. This one is an adjustable center channel, has five different mounting positions for your coupler.

Now the coupler's not included. We do sell that separately on our website. Just to give you a few dimensions on the channel itself. The height, 12 inches tall. And the width that should be measured inside to inside, three inches.

This is a heavy-duty steel construction, has a nice prime finish to it. And in the very back here we mentioned the master cylinder. It is a composite master cylinder, which is durable and efficient. It's a glass-reinforced nylon construction to resist rust and corrosion. And it has a large reservoir to provide increased capacity for your brake fluid.

At the top here, you notice has the automotive-style diaphragm cap, which creates a completely enclosed system to help prevent contamination of the brake fluid. Now the breakaway cable, which is this here, and the hook that's attached to it, this is all included and it is required by law because it does prevent a trailer runaway situation. And what happens with this is you take this hook with the keeper on it and this gets attached to your tow vehicle. And then what happens if by chance this happens to detach from your tow vehicle, it would pull on this cable, which would activate this lever, which would then apply force to the master cylinder back here and prevent a trailer runaway situation. So again, this is required by law and it is included. Now, this is a weld-on installation. It does designed to mount to a straight, three-inch wide trailer tongue. This part is made in the USA. Application, it's for trailers with hydraulic drum brakes. Again, the gross towing weight capacity is 12,500 pounds. Maximum tongue weight capacity of 1,250 pounds. This does go by the model number of D-A-10. And one note I do wanna mention on this actuator, because it does not include a reverse lockout, it is recommended that you equip this trailer with either a reverse lockout solenoid, that will attach right back here to the master cylinder. Or to have Free-Backing brakes on your trailer, so that you could drive in reverse without this actuator triggering your trailer's brakes. But that should do it for the review on this Demco 12 inch Adjustable Center Channel Hydraulic Drum Brake Actuator with the 12,500 pound gross towing weight capacity.