[pshoemaker]

I put a new hitch on my 05 Prairie 360 and sure enough bumped the cover just enough for some extremely putrid fluid to leak out. I decided to go ahead and change it. After I put everything back together, the rear brakes struggle to slow me down. Have I done some kind of damage? Is there an adjustment to be made after changing the fluid? This has been a solid, reliable machine for farm/hunting lease chores -- I hate the thought of retiring it.

 

[Mech]

Sounds like there is still air in there.
Sometimes there is an air lock you need to clear with a good fast movement of fluid. A slow flow of fluid leaves the air in the high bit of piping.

The way to get the fast flow is to pump the brakes vigorously till pressure builds up, and then hold the pedal hard down and keep it down till the bleeder has been opened and the fluid bled. And once the bleeder's tight again, repeat the process. Keep doing it till the pedal, after a bleed operation, feels hard and at the right height, on the very first push. If you let your foot off the pedal and keep it off for some seconds and then it feels soft when you put your foot on the pedal, then there's still more air.
It works better too, always, that we lift our foot right off the pedal between pumps as we are building up pressure..