Atwood Hydraulic Brake Actuator Replacement?

[SkiNautique2001]

I have a 1989 Correct Craft trailer that has an Atwood actuator for surge brakes. The brakes have not worked in the 3 years that I have owned the trailer. This was no concern at first since I only towed a couple of miles to the boat landing, but now I am towing farther and I'm also fed up with the clunking of the trailer and the complexity of unhooking it. It is sometimes a 15 minute ordeal to get my trailer off of the ball!
My question is since I get no braking response whatsoever, where should I start troubleshooting? This is my thought process:
1. Try bleeding the brakes.
2. If that doesn't work, replace the acutator.
I'm not sure what else to check.

Any guidance is much appreciated!

[darrel409]

RE: Atwood Hydraulic Brake Actuator Replacement?

IMO its the wheel cylinders that will rust closed first and render the system usless. Cylinders are cheap and easy to replace. Check fluid and bleed. You can replace the whole backing plates for less than $100 per side. Try to test your actuater before replacing, its probably still good. Parts for your Attwood are available as the complete actuator is going to run close to $250.

[rbalan]

RE: Atwood Hydraulic Brake Actuator Replacement?

I replaced the actuator on my 89 a few years ago as well (approx $125 at Northern Tool). I had the same issues. The difficulty in getting it to hook/unhook I beleive is due to wear in the peice that locks under the ball. The new actuator solved this but you may be able to file the peice a little to help. Make sure you adjust your brakes after bleeding, otherwise you'll get excessive movement in the actuator when stopping. I still get a clunk when taking off unfortunately. If you replace the actuator, you may want to consider a different style than the original.