Dexter Hydraulic Brake Actuator - Disc - Zinc - 5 Position Adjustable Channel - 8,000 lbs

Video Transcript for Review of Dexter Brake Actuator - Surge Brake Actuator - T4846700183

Hello everybody, this is Jeff etrailer.com. Today we're gonna take a look at this Dexter DX 8.0 12" Adjustable Channel Center Hydraulic Disc Brake Actuator with the 8,000 pound gross towing weight capacity and a zinc-plated finish. Now you can use this actuator to synchronize your trailer brakes with your tow vehicle brakes. Basically what happens is this hydraulic actuator will activate your trailer brakes when the 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 of your vehicle. And with this surge brake system, this actuator is then triggered as your trailer moves forward while the tow vehicle slows, the actuator will telescope, this outer portion will telescope in this case here, and it applies force to the master cylinder in the back here, which in turn will supply the necessary hydraulic pressure to engage your trailer's brakes.

Now this one here is an adjustable channel design. You can see it has five different mounting positions for your coupler. Now the coupler is not included. We do sell those separately on our website. And we mentioned this is a channel center design, so it'll let you adjust the height of the coupler to fit your application.

The height on this channel right here, we put a ruler on from the bottom to the top, it's right at 12". The width, which is measured inside to inside, is right at 3". Now this is a heavy duty steel construction. Has the efficient roller design. You can see a roller right up here, one right down here.

This one up here you notice has a grease zerk fitting on it. So you can actually apply your grease gun, connect it to there. Pump grease in there for easy lubrication of that roller. Has a nice sink plating to it, provides corrosion resistance. And it does include this breakaway cable.

Now this breakaway cable is required by law because what it does is it prevents a trailer runaway situation. So you can see it has this carabiner type hook right here that you'll connect to your tow vehicle. When you hook your trailer up then you'll connect this to your tow vehicle. And then what happens, if by chance your trailer would ever become disconnected, it would pull on this cable, which would activate this lever this way, which would then apply the pressure to the master cylinder back here, which then would apply the pressure to your brakes, and then stop that trailer in a runaway situation. So this breakaway kit is required by law, and as we mentioned, it is included. Now this is a bolt-on installation. If you look right down here where the holes are, you'd bolt this onto your 3" wide straight trailer tongue. It is made in the USA. Application, again, this fits hydraulic disc brakes. Has a gross towing weight capacity of 8,000 pounds, tow weight capacity of 800 pounds. One last thing I do wanna mention, this model does not include a reverse lockout solenoid which is usually installed on the back of the master cylinder. It is recommended that you either equip your trailer with either the electric reverse lockout solenoid on the back here, or to use free-backing brakes on your trailer. So then you can drive in reverse without triggering your trailer's brakes. But that should do it for the review on this Dexter DX 8.0 12" Adjustable Channel Center Hydraulic Disc Brake Actuator with the 8,000 pound gross towing weight capacity.