How to bleed trailer brakes

[Rupp]

Guys,
How does one "push" on the tongue of the trailer to force fluid through the system to the brakes.

 

[Scott Danforth]

use a 2x4 and a helper.

lower the master cylinder down to the ground. wrap the two chains around the bottom of the 2x4 and use it as a pry-bar to push in the tongue while your helper cracks the bleeders

or buy a mity-vac 8500 so you can vacuum bleed the brakes by yourself. it also comes in handy to pressure test gear cases, vacuum test gear cases, etc.

 

[Horigan]

Check the manual for your surge brake actuator. There may be a way to bleed it with a flat head screwdriver from below, like on my UFP/Dexter actuator.

 

[Rupp]

Thanks for the info guys. I've not seen my manual in 20 years. This is a Travis Edition tandem axle trailer that came with my 2020 Larson 206.

 

[04fxdwgi25]

Manuals can be found on the internet easily. Just need the trailer coupler make and model. That is usually stamped on the coupler itself or the coupler housing.

 

[froggy1150]

I put the ball from the receiver into the actuator. Put a come-a-long on the shank, put tension on it then bled, repeat til done

 

[04fxdwgi25]

On last tandem trailer, bought a new fill cap for the actuator. Drilled an tapped a 1/4" NPT hole in top of the old one and added a hose that I connected to a 1 gallon garden sprayer with DOT 3 brake fluid in it and pumped up sprayer a bit.

Bled brake calipers till I saw clean fluid. Done in 20 minutes.

 

[Drcoffee]

I replaced my drum brake system last year. Bleeding was easy. You need leverage so I removed the ball and tongue from the receiver and installed the ball on the hitch. Then you lean on the tongue to activate the master. I put a catch cup on the bleeder screw starting from the furthest brake, one at a time, cracked the bleeder and pumped the tongue slowly up and down while watching res fluid level. Three pumps and top off. On the catch cup, run the hose upwards so air bubbles dont get pulled back into the brake.once there are no more bubbles in the line lock the bleeder down and move to the next one. It was a one man job for me.

 

[Rupp]

Well I found out that there's a small hole in the bottom of the trailer tongue that you can insert a flat head screwdriver to pump the actuator. This was so easy once I found out about this.