trailer brake controller bleeding
 

i just bought a 69 catalina and it has a hitch w/an old style brake controller with a brake line running to the master. i want to replace the master cylinder and was wondering how to bleed that line. i don't see a fitting on the controller. any help would be great! thanks, pontiacmonstr

In my opinion get rid of it unless you have some kind of antique trailer with hydraulic brakes that would require it. All those were a crude design, little ability to modulate trailer braking effort for varied load requirements. They were nearly as bad as the ones that had the surge brake controller built into the hitch. I bet that was already way outdated when it was installed on a 1969 model.

Disconnect line from that goes into the master cyl and replace with a brass plug. Actually the old master might have an adapter installed that can just be removed.

Heres some links for more on hyd brakes on trailers

http://www.dogpile.com/dogpile_prefe...7?_IceUrl=true

thanks for the info. i'm not planning on towing with the car. i just thought it would be cool to leave it there and functional. i just never really understood how it worked.

To bleed it simply loosen the brake line that goes into the back of the controller using it as you would a bleeder. Wrap a shop rag around the wrench/fitting to keep the fluid from going everywhere.

That's what I did when I transferred a Kelsey-Hayes controller that was fitted in my dad's bought new 73 Galaxie 500 with Factory trailer package into my 71 Vista Cruiser Tow vehicle. I bled the line with that exact method and it worked well. The mechanical unit also had an adjustable resistor in line under the hood that allowed adjust-ability of the braking voltage to the trailer brakes. That allowed me to adjust the trailer braking force for an unloaded trailer or smaller trailer if I choose to.

The guy at the trailer place that inspected my trailer had nothing bad to say about that controller or set up compared to the new inertia style controllers.He said something like "six in one, half dozen in the other".

I had no problems with the controller when towing, but I did have other handling issues that were unrelated.

I tow now with a Duramax Sierra with a Protegy controller and to be honest, my old controller worked just as well as the new one. It is easier to adjust for load because you don't have to open the hood to adjust the resistance.