This actuator comes primed and ready for welding, which keeps setup simple and clean. Because it’s not painted, you can weld it directly to a 3" x 5" straight tongue without worrying about damage to a finish. Once it’s mounted, you can paint it to match your trailer for a finished look. The weld-on design keeps everything solidly in place with no extra brackets or hardware to deal with.
The built-in electric reverse lockout makes backing up easy. When you shift into reverse, the solenoid activates automatically so the trailer brakes won’t engage. It’s especially handy when maneuvering around tight spots or backing up inclines because you don’t have to install any extra parts or flip a manual lockout.
The aluminum master cylinder does a better job resisting corrosion than cast steel types. That means less chance of rust buildup or pitting over time, even in damp or wet conditions. It’s a smart choice if you want dependable braking performance and fewer maintenance headaches down the road.
The low-profile coupler latch uses an over-center mechanism that only locks when it’s fully seated on your 2" hitch ball. That gives you peace of mind knowing the connection is solid before you hit the road. It’s smooth to latch and easy to verify at a glance, so hooking up is quick and reliable every time.
With a 7,500-lb capacity and hydraulic surge operation made for disc brakes, this actuator syncs braking between your trailer and tow vehicle automatically. As the trailer moves forward during deceleration, it applies pressure through the master cylinder for smooth, controlled stops without jerking or delay. It’s built to keep braking consistent and balanced under load.
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hello everybody, this is Jeff at etrailer.com. Today we're gonna take a look at Dexter DX7.5L Weld On Disc Brake Actuator with the electric lockout and it's designed to fit onto a 2" hitch ball, has a 7,500 pound weight capacity. Now you can use this actuator to synchronize your trailer's disc brakes with your tow vehicle brakes. How this hydraulic actuator will activate the 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 the trailer toward the rear view vehicle. So with a surge brake system, the actuator is triggered as your trailer moves forward while the tow vehicle slows.
The actuator, the inner portion here will telescope back, which applies force to the master cylinder in the back here, which in turn supplies the necessary hydraulic pressure to engage your trailer's brakes. Now up front, you'll notice has this nice, low profile, coupler latch to ensure a nice, easy, secure connection. And we call it low profile 'cause it doesn't have any large latch. Some of your actuators have a large trigger latch that sticks up high and that can end up getting damaged or bent. This one is pretty low profile, so nothing's gonna really damage it.
And it uses an over center latch mechanism, which will only engage when the actuator's fully seated onto your 2" hitch ball. And just to demonstrate that, I happen to pull, here's a 2" hitch ball. We're gonna show how it attaches to it, but basically first thing you want to do is pull out the safety pin here and it's tethered so you don't lose it. And that'll release it, and then to open the latch, there's this portion up the top here, this little dome portion, it's spring loaded. Slide that over and it'll pop up.
Now with it open, you're ready to attach to the ball. So if we lift this up, you can put the ball underneath it and you can see with it over the ball, it'll go right in place. And then all you have to do is push this down and it'll close right on it. It's locked onto the ball. And then for safety, you do wanna put this pin right back through the hole, slide that all the way through, and that'll prevent that latch from coming up.
Even if something hits it and releases it, you can see it won't let it go up far enough, it'll still stay connected to the ball. And then to remove it, to detach from there, just pull out your safety pin, open up your latch, and it'll let you remove it from the ball, just like that. So very easy to connect and very easy to remove. I gonna put our pin back in there. Now this does include the breakaway cable you can see here. Now breakaway cable is required by law. This will prevent a trailer runaway situation. Basically what you'll do is take this metal hook on this end and this will attach to your tow vehicle. And then what'll happen in a case if your trailer becomes detached from your tow vehicle, it will pull on this cable, which again would apply the latch onto your master cylinder, which would apply the brakes and prevent a runaway situation. Now this actuator does include a little electric reverse lockout. I turn this on its side. You'll be able to see it in the very back here. This is a solenoid. It's an electric reverse lockout solenoid. It'll let you back up without actuating your trailer brakes. Basically, this lockout on this trailer brake actuator will automatically activate when you shift your tow vehicle into reverse. This solenoid right here wires into your trailer connector, which connects to your tow vehicle so that it can detect when you go into reverse And when you're in reverse, the solenoid ensures that the hydraulic actuator will not activate your trailer's brakes and thus allows you to back up your vehicle. Now, to use this electric lockout feature, you must have a five-way flat, a six-way round, or a seven-way trailer connector on your vehicle. The master cylinder right down here, this master cylinder is constructed of aluminum rather than plastic and this or steel, because what it'll do, it gives you increased strength and corrosion resistance since it's of aluminum. And up at the top here is also a flush brake fluid filler cap on the top. Now this actuator does have a nice prime finish to it. It is a weld on installation. It is designed to fit on a three inch by five inch straight trailer tongue. And this part is made in the USA. Again, the application for this is hydraulic disc brakes. The ball size again, it fits on, is a 2" diameter ball. And the weight capacity on this is 7,500 pounds. But that should do it for the review on this Dexter DX7.5L Weld on Disc Brake Actuator with the electric lockout for a 2" hitch ball.
Customer Satisfaction Score:
97% were satisfied with this product
3% of customers were not satisfied
Ratings & Reviews
Works great- no issues
Great product, fast shipping. E trailer has everything you need. Thanks
Most smooth surge brake I’ve ever had. Love it! Almost don’t feel the boat behind the truck. Had to cut up and modify a trailer to fit my boat due to an accident… strainer supplied plenty of the parts to take my dumpy trailer to a beauty!
Works great!!!
Easy and fast
I bought this because I needed to replace the inner member of my old UFP A-60 and for whatever bad reason the inner member by itself is substantially more expensive than buying either the weld-on or the bolt-on complete assembly. Getting the inner member out of the new assembly is easy so for those that don't want to pay way more for just the inner member, this is a good option.
One thing that the descriptions on etrailer don't make clear is that this model works with trailers with brakes on both axles and there was a small sticker on it indicating that. My trailer has brakes on only one axle. Now that I have it installed I can say that it works fine only trailer with brakes on only one axle. However, this actuator is close to two inches longer than the model that I think is made for brakes on a single axle. I had to made modifications to my trailer tongue to get it to work.
So, make sure you know your application (how many axles have brakes and whether those are disc or drum) and that you pay close attention to the length of your old part so you don't end up messing around with the angle grinder like me. Etrailer should update their product descriptions as well.
One more note: the backup solenoid on my old A-60 actuator only had a blue power wire to connect. The new one has a blue wire that connects to the backup light pin on the trailer plug as well as a white ground wire, which I connected directly to the trailer for a ground.
Great service, Adam was a lot of help. I needed the inner part of the actuator because I have a swing away tongue. This unit was just what I needed. The weather finally got better today so gave it a road test and work great. ????
Received the brake actuator very fast, and it appears to be very well made. I have not as yet had time to weld it to the swing-away connection, but I don't think it will be a problem.
Picture lead me to assume the mechanical lock out tab also was provided but did not come with package. Other than that I got exactly what I was looking for. Quality product
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