# 1
Titan Zinc-Plated Brake Actuator w/ Electric Lockout - Disc - Multi-Fit Ball - Bolt On - 6,000 lbs
This Actuator is perfect for my project; a light weight tear drop trailer. Really well made, and the shipping and customer service is really first rate. Great to deal with etrailer. More later after I get a chance to test it.
etrailer.com is a great company to do business with, and they definitely get 5 stars from me. Great website (love the videos and things are easy to find) , great selections, good prices, fast delivery, great customer support, etc. Now, for the surge actuator... I'll give the surge actuator 5 stars, too, but with some hesitation about a couple of minor things. First, let me say that I was absolutely thrilled with the performance of the actuator on its first road trip. We have a 5000 lb. combined boat and trailer weight, and while creeping down a very steep hill, just to see what things felt like, having the trailer behind me didn't feel any different than just driving my Yukon without the trailer. Also, stopping and then starting up from a stop sign was as smooth as silk -- no jerking or tugging feeling whatsoever. After pulling the trailer for about 30 minutes, I stopped and measured the temperature of the trailer wheels near the hubs, and they were at 75-80 degrees on a 60-degree day. Like I said, I was trilled, especially after previously dealing with an actuator that performed badly in all of the ways that this new one performed so well. That's why I'm giving the actuator 5 stars, but like I said, it's with some hesitation and here's why... I'm not sure I'm a fan of the screw-type ball latch that's on the actuator. I wrestled with it for a long time before I finally figured out what was wrong and managed to get the latch onto the hitch ball. There's a small rectangular bracket on the bottom side of the latching mechanism, and it holds the hex head of the bolt that you're screwing down on when the latch is closing. The latch is spring loaded, so normally that little bracket is held in place where it needs to be, but if the spring is compressed, it's possible for the little rectangular bracket to get turned 90 degrees from where it should. And if that happens, you're not gonna get a 2" ball onto that actuator -- I tried and failed for a long time. The other thing that causes some hesitation is that that latch mechanism seems like it might not be quite as corrosion proof as I would hope. I've decided to spray it with WD-40 to see if that helps to keep it in good shape. I'm including 3 photos with this review. One shows the little rectangular bracket that holds the bolt's hex head in its correct position, another shows what the latch should look like when it's fully opened, and the third shows the beginning signs of a little corrosion after the actuator has been outside for only a couple of weeks. We did launch the boat once in salt water, but I don't think the actuator got wet when we did it, so I think the slight corrosion is just from being outside in the rain, and not from salt water exposure. Like I said, the actuator performed extremely well, so even with the minor criticisms, I'll still give it 5 stars. And etrailer definitely gets 5 stars!
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