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UFP A-60 Swap (Trailer Tongue)


hawaiianstyln

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Has anyone tackled out swapping the UFP A-60 on the trailer tongue.  Mine is basically 11 years old, been acting a little weird and it's only a few hundred to replace the entire unit.  Any pointers or do's/donts getting into this job?

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I had to replace a couple of the thin brake safety cables due to a case of the dumb a_ _. There is not much inside that wears out or moves other than the actuator guide rollers (plastic) and the shock. The reset spring is in there as well, but doesn’t see any action unless you... break the cable. Contrary to what my shop manager says, given enough slack in the wires and the brake line everything internally can be replaced with out pulling the tongue off or disconnecting the brake line. I did have to re-bleed the brakes due to a bad caliper. Not a hard job at all even with a cheap brake bleeder so that route might be slightly easier albeit messier and a little faster. You might want to poke around a bit to see the how to’s, it may save you a couple bucks. JM2C Bill

Edited by wdr
Clarification
  • Like 1
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It’s pretty easy. my old actuator was binding up.
 

You can get the whole actuator assembly that mounts on the tongue of the trailer. Ball mount receiver and all. Just remove old one, install new and bleed master cyl.
 

Viola 

Edited by T-rev
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I think it took me 2 hours to do by myself.  The hardest part was reconnecting the brake line. Mine didn't have enough movement in the hard lines or enough slack to spin it back together easily. Getting it apart wasn't that hard, it came apart almost on its own.

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13 hours ago, dalt1 said:

Done it on my 06 years ago. There is a write up somewhere. Check UFP site they are usually pretty helpful. You looking to just replace the actuator or the whole tongue latching unit too?

I think this is the entire thing, correct?

https://www.amazon.com/UFP-Dexter-Tandem-Hydraulic-Actuator/dp/B006UH54YO/ref=sr_1_2?crid=17R9PV4GU58UD&keywords=ufp+a-60&qid=1581691934&sprefix=ufp+%2Caps%2C203&sr=8-2

 

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UFP has a couple A60 inner members for either drum brakes or disc brakes.  The only difference I've seen is the spring used on the master cylinder shaft and the reverse solenoid.  Dexter owns UFP now, here is their catalog with the new part numbers.  Actuator inserts are on page 52:

https://www.dexteraxle.com/docs/default-source/dexteraxle/product-documentation/catalogs/ufp-catalog-(lit-708-00ufp).pdf?sfvrsn=d17a1a48_8

To replace them, I usually just remove a retainer clip from each slide pin, take out the pins, slide 1/2 in or 13mm deep 3/8 drive sockets in place of the pins, slide the whole assembly forward out of the frame, and disconnect the brake line.  Installation is done in the reverse order, then bleed the brakes. 

Before installing the new actuator, I bench bleed it by screwing in a short brake line, putting the other end of the line into the top of the master cylinder, filling it with DOT3 brake fluid, and pump the actuator several times with a screwdriver using the small hole on the underside near the breakaway cable release lever.  This just makes it easier to bleed the brake system later.

On some trailers with boxed frames it can be difficult to remove the brake line from the actuator.  In those cases I will remove the brake line from the tee near the axle, tie a wire to the line, replace the actuator, then pull the brake line back out of the frame using the wire, and connect it back up to the tee.

It is much easier to remove and install the actuator fully assembled than trying to get everything pushed together and lined up inside the frame.  If the actuator roller pins (or the sockets I use during replacement) come out, the actuator pieces have a tendency to come apart.  Pushing the breakaway release lever on the bottom makes it easier to get the assembly back together if that happens.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Started this project yesterday.  Removed the old A-60 (glad I did, looked to be in bad shape), cleaned hollow tongue out and then hit it with some lubricant.  As I begun to thread the soft brake line onto the new A-60 solenoid, I ended up cranking slightly too hard and broke the fitting.  Not a big deal, I just removed the fitting as it was really not necessary after looking, why have a brass reducer fitting when the soft line fits directly in the solenoid without the brass reducer.  I know you aren't suppose to use RTV Sealant on brake lines but I noticed the brass fitting from UFP/Dexter had RTV on the fitting that came screwed in.  So I just used RTV on the soft line and threaded it into the solenoid.  I hope that is okay?  Hopefully I will finish getting this installed tonight.

  IMG_4386.thumb.jpg.072b9fe501e0dd85dbb2748c3673f6f8.jpgIMG_4388.thumb.jpg.ce89837ff123a2a5aebaffa390b835d2.jpg

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@hawaiianstyln when i did this job, i had a bugger of a time getting the soft brake line back on. I also had to pull the fitting from the old solenoid to get it to go back to the brake line.  I used rtv sealant as well, so i think you are good there. 

One tip for getting it all stuffed into the tongue, use a couple wood dowels or pieces of pipe to hold the acruator all together and aligned as it goes in, the pins that mount it can be a pain to line up if things get out of alignment in there.  i ended up cutting my old pins shorter, then just tapping them through. I was also doing the job late on a sunday afternoon, at the lake before pulling it for the season, so i had limited tools handy.

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3 hours ago, asnowman said:

@hawaiianstyln when i did this job, i had a bugger of a time getting the soft brake line back on. I also had to pull the fitting from the old solenoid to get it to go back to the brake line.  I used rtv sealant as well, so i think you are good there. 

One tip for getting it all stuffed into the tongue, use a couple wood dowels or pieces of pipe to hold the acruator all together and aligned as it goes in, the pins that mount it can be a pain to line up if things get out of alignment in there.  i ended up cutting my old pins shorter, then just tapping them through. I was also doing the job late on a sunday afternoon, at the lake before pulling it for the season, so i had limited tools handy.

cool thanks for the tips.  I was able to do a test by sliding the whole thing in and out.  So there is not enough line to get this slid back in so I just realized I will just take the bolt off the swing tongue and remove the tongue so I can manually slide it in, then bolt the swing tongue back on.  I'm going to use the idea above @csleaver where he used long sockets to stuff in there and hold everything together.   I found out the hard way when I tilted this unit upside down the stainless rollers fell out and then the plastic rollers in the back fell out.  It was like I was losing my marbles.  :lol: i'm sure neighbors were watching things fall out everywhere and laughing. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/13/2020 at 7:34 PM, wdr said:

 I did have to re-bleed the brakes due to a bad caliper. Not a hard job at all even with a cheap brake bleeder so that route might be slightly easier albeit messier and a little faster. 

Are you able to use a brake bleeder on UFP?  Everything I've seen is a manual bleed, with someone at the actuator while another person opens/closes the bleed valve.  I know that I need to do my brakes this spring, so just wondering if I can use my bleeder, or if I need to recruit my wife to mechanically move the actuator for me?

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1 hour ago, mrothwell said:

Are you able to use a brake bleeder on UFP?  Everything I've seen is a manual bleed, with someone at the actuator while another person opens/closes the bleed valve.  I know that I need to do my brakes this spring, so just wondering if I can use my bleeder, or if I need to recruit my wife to mechanically move the actuator for me?

I used my cheapy Harbor Freight vacuum cannister on the rear most or end of the line bleeder valve on the that caliper and pulled it through the whole brake line. Pull a good vacuum, move to that caliper and open it to draw in the brake fluid, refill the master and repeated until it ran airless.

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For clarification, I only had to re bleed mine when I replaced a bad caliper, not for the safety cable swap I did. I suppose you could put the hitch on and load up the tongue to help the bleed process, but it wasn't needed for mine.

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On ‎2‎/‎25‎/‎2020 at 11:29 AM, asnowman said:

@hawaiianstyln when i did this job, i had a bugger of a time getting the soft brake line back on. I also had to pull the fitting from the old solenoid to get it to go back to the brake line.  I used rtv sealant as well, so i think you are good there. 

 

What a pain and had further complications, but I just finished the other day and I had to take the bolt off the swing tongue and remove the entire swing tongue.  The soft brake line was causing me issues threading it in without getting super twisted.  Once I got about 2-3 threads on the solenoid, I picked the entire tongue up and rotated it 360 degrees about 8 times, then wrenched the rest of the way tight.  Slapped the tongue back on the swing away coupler and bolted her back on.  Much easier to do it this way than the way I was trying at first  (connect the line to A-60 then slide the unit in the tongue was a no go for me)

Haven't tackled out the bleeding but I have that harbor freight canister and may do what @wdr did.

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  • 1 month later...

This A-60 swap certainly has not been kind to me.

found a puddle of break fluid on the floor a few weeks back.  Removed the entire unit thinking that the boot had come off.  Removed, cleaned up, reinstalled/Re-bled to only find this little puddle build up after a few hours..  arggggg

UFP_leak.thumb.jpg.de40b002a0e71331959d858f658b4052.jpg

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