Bleed your trailer brakes

[Cummins12V98]

Simply pull your breakaway pin while you are bleeding. People freak out when I say this but the fACT is every time you set at a stop light the actuator is running and will do no harm.

I kept topping off while my buddy opened and closed the bleeder. Completed all 4 wheels and did it again.

 

[Loren]

Simply pull your breakaway pin while you are bleeding. People freak out when I say this but the fACT is every time you set at a stop light the actuator is running and will do no harm.

I kept topping off while my buddy opened and closed the bleeder. Completed all 4 wheels and did it again.

I do the same with my triple axle trailer (the New Horizons in my signature). I don't leave the breakaway pin out any longer than I have to and do the whole job alone. I do have to go back and forth between the calipers and the actuator/reservoir to keep it topped off.

You can't let the actuator run indefinitely, but you obviously can run it for several minutes. Think of how long you sit in traffic or at a red light with your food on the brake. The actuator is running while you have the brake pedal depressed.

If it runs too long (perhaps an hour?) it will overheat. When my trailer was made, the breakaway switch wire connections were taped up and water got inside the tape, shorting the wires and starting the brake actuator. I burned up two of them, and melted the plastic covers, before finding the wiring problem. Fortunately the manufacturer covered the failures under warranty.

I bleed my brakes every two years or so just to change the fluid. I change the brake fluid in the truck too.

-- Loren