trailer surge brakes help por favor!!!
 

last year i had a self draining surge break actuator aka it was leaking and broken. so i broke down and replaced everything questionable on my dhm trailer... . new tongue/actuator assymbly, new glides, new drum brake assemblies and wheel bearings. A local trailer shop did the bulk of the work but when i drove home still had banging of the actuator when i braked. Figured there was still air in the lines so I bled and bled the system and never got air bubbles, but did get some more dirty fluid. It never got the banging to go away either. This year it all seems to be even worse. The axles seem noisy even though they were checked as well, the clunking when braking and pulling away is embarrassing and unsafe. I need help. All the fluid is still in the reservoir a year later so im thinking the lines are ok. before it wouldn't hold a week. and the company i bought the parts from i believe recommended dot4 fluid that was used.

Don't know what actuator you have, but in the case of UFP's, if it's clunking, it usually needs the shock absorber replaced or you have air in your lines (or both). The shock replacement is pretty easy, but you have to pull the actuator to do it, which means you'll be bleeding lines again.

If it's one of those older Reliable brand actuators, throw it out and replace it with UFP or the like

My supra 24V trailer clucks every time I stop and pull away. The reservoir cap failed and let a bunch of crap into the lines. I bleed it until it was clear brake fluid coming through. NOTHING changed.

SO

I bought a whole new tongue/actuator assembly and swapped all the line to the new assembly.

and

NOTHING changed it still clunks when I leave from a stop. So I just adjusted my driving to slowly pull away the first two feet. To let it slide out then I take off.

Both of my boat trailers with UFP surge brake tongues clunk when starting from a stop, especially if you go straight to the gas instead of letting the truck idle out a foot a so.

Yea, most sliding surge actuators are going to have a mild clunk (nature of the design somewhat), but I know in my before/after shock replacement, it quieted it down a ton and had less of the metal on metal feel. bass - are your brakes actually engaging, or do you feel like the actuator is just clunking and your truck is doing all the braking work? I'm just thinking you may need to adjust your star adjuster on the drums to get more braking action - which may mitigate some of the clunk on stopping.

after another weekend of towing( about a mile from my storage to lake) i think that one side may be too tight and the other not engaging as it seems to lock up one wheel on gravel and not the other. I kinda figured out that if the system is bled but the shoes aren't close enough i'd still get the banging but no air... I have a upf-60- brand new actuator and shock so i think its a system problem not parts.

Yea, sounds like you need to adjust the brakes. Generally, it's just adjust the star adjuster until you have trouble rotating the wheel forward, then back off like 10 clicks.