Demco Hydraulic Brake Actuator - Drum - Primed - 8" Adjustable Channel Up - 8,000 lbs

Video Transcript for Review of Demco Brake Actuator - Surge Brake Actuator - DM8759942

Hello everybody, this is Jeff at etrailer.com. Today I'm gonna take a look at this Demco eight-inch adjustable channel up hydraulic drum brake actuator. Has an 8,000 pound gross towing weight capacity and a nice primed 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. So with the surge brake system, the actuator is then triggered as your trailer moves forward once your tow vehicle starts to slow down, and when this happens, the inner slide portion of this actuator will contract into the outer case and it applies force to the master cylinder in the back here.

This in turn will supply the necessary hydraulic pressure to engage your trailer's brakes. This does use an acetal copolymer lining around the inside here between the inner slide and the outer case, so it provides a nice smooth operation as the actuator telescopes in and out. We mentioned it's an adjustable channel, has three different mounting positions for your coupler. Now the coupler is not included. We do sell those separately on our website.

We mentioned it's a channel-up design. You can see the adjustable channel is sticking more up and that allows for a greater rise for any low-riding trailers. Channel height on this, if we put a ruler on it, eight inches tall, channel width, which is measured inside to inside, three inches wide. This is a heavy-duty steel construction, has a nice primed finish to it. We mentioned the master cylinder back here.

It is a composite master cylinder which is durable and efficient. It's a glass-reinforced nylon construction, resists rust and corrosion, and it offers a large reservoir, which provides increased capacity for your brake fluid. The very top here, it has an automotive-style diaphragm cap, which creates a completely enclosed system to help prevent contamination of your brake fluid. The very top right here, if you notice, it does include this breakaway cable and the hook with the latch, and this is required by law because it does prevent a trailer runaway situation. Basically what you do with this cable is when you hook your trailer up to your tow vehicle, then you take your hook with the latch, hook this to your tow vehicle also.

So with that hooked to your tow vehicle, if by chance this ever comes detached from your tow vehicle, it'll pull that cable which will activate the lever, which again applies the pressure to the master cylinder back here and it engages your trailer's brakes. Again, this breakaway kit cable is included and it is required by law. Go ahead and hook that up, keep it out of the way. Oops. There we go. Now this is a weld-on installation. It is designed to mount to a straight three-inch wide trailer tongue. This part is made in the U.S.A. A few specs on this, the application, this is for trailers with hydraulic drum brakes, gross towing weight capacity again is 8,000 pounds, maximum tongue weight of 800 pounds. This does go by a model number of DA 91. One last note I do wanna mention on this. If you look at the back here, this actuator does not include a reverse lockout on the back here, and it is recommended that you either equip it with a reverse lockout solenoid, which will screw right into the back right here, or that you 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 up hydraulic drum brake actuator with the 8,000 pound gross towing weight capacity in a primed finish.