Atwood drum brake actuator overhaul

Folks,

I have a 1992 trailmaster with an original Atwood brake actuator welded to the trailer. The bolts and the watchamacallit that attaches to the ball of my hitch has worn out and causing the whole trailer to hop on small bumps. I have about 10% tongue weight on the hitch so weight is not an issue. Its just tired. The whole unit needs to be grinded off and a new unit welded on it($450 for welding). Now, Can I just buy a new actuator and swap out the parts on to the old housing? Below is a picture of an assembly like my old unit welded to my trailer.

Thanks All

Re: Atwood drum brake actuator overhaul

For $450 you could buy grinder and a welding unit!
Does you mechanic need a new welder?
You need to find a new mechanic!

Can you swap out the parts?
Maybe! ... If the guts are that bad, the Housing that is welded on is likely just as bad.
You could end up with a brand new "Whatchamacallit" still hopping around in the old housing.

Do it right the first time and you won't have to do it again.
Removal and replacement should run maybe $100 if you live in the states.

(Hint: Enter your Location in your Profile.)


Edit : Would you believe that the spell checker auto corrected "Whatchamacallit" !?

Re: Atwood drum brake actuator overhaul

holy crap 450 for welding it. dang.. if i were you id grind the welds and get the old one off and bolt on the new one if the room is there

Re: Atwood drum brake actuator overhaul

Josh P said:

holy crap 450 for welding it. dang.. if i were you id grind the welds and get the old one off and bolt on the new one if the room is there

Click to expand...

+1.

There is no advantage to welding it on. Bolts are fine.
Your hitch pin is essentially one very loose and sloppy Bolt! And it hold up just fine!
Four tight bolts holding the actuator, trumps a hitch pin any day!

Re: Atwood drum brake actuator overhaul

I had an ATWOOD brake assembly as well on my 1990 trailer. It was tired and leaky. I got an entire TITAN disc brake kit with new actuator for $439 shipped, and it works great! Why bother rebuilding your old ATWOOD system. You can even get a new actuator by itself for well under $200.

Re: Atwood drum brake actuator overhaul

I cut my off my old welded Attwood assembly and just bolted on a new one. (Had the same issue with the actuator) I did put some steel sleeves inside the square rail that the bolts would go through for strength and piece of mind. Works great with no issues. I think I paid $300.00 for both the Attwood assembly and a new complete brake set up.

Good luck

Re: Atwood drum brake actuator overhaul

I just overhauled mine last week. Mine is also welded on, its pretty simple to fix. just a few bolts and about 30minutes you can have it apart, and rebuilt. I bought all my parts on etrailer.com It cost me about $140 for all the parts. Ordered a new master cylinder, push rod kit, and cap. You can replace the shock as well if yours is bad. The site also has a video on how to repair it as well. Take the time to do it yourself and save your money. Good luck.

Re: Atwood drum brake actuator overhaul

Just to add to what everyone else is saying... I've seen the Attwood brake actuators (complete with all new parts) sell BRAND NEW for in the $165 range online.

I would replace the unit as a whole, and just bolt it on.

Re: Atwood drum brake actuator overhaul

Struc said:

Just to add to what everyone else is saying... I've seen the Attwood brake actuators (complete with all new parts) sell BRAND NEW for in the $165 range online.

I would replace the unit as a whole, and just bolt it on.

Click to expand...

I looked into this as well, if it was that simple I would have gone that route. Mine is also welded in place onto a removable tongue. After factoring in time to cut off the old one, having a shop welding a new one on, and then painting it to match the trailer, it would have cost another at least another $100 in my time and cost of welding. It was much easier to replace a few parts that to go through all that. In the end it was still cheaper than replacing the whole unit. While I was researching for this project I came across the Atwood manual and there is 2 different model, one for welding on and one for bolting on. Not sure there is any actual difference between these but I couldn't find the correct version to purchase new. As far as getting a new one and bolting it on, on my trailer this isn't really an option because the way the tongue is assembled. It is welded to a 3" square channel which in turn is welding onto the 2.5" square channel tongue.