Brake cylinder

[pflaming]

Kids sent money for me to fix the brakes. Comment then question. I removed one wheel cylinder and the inner 'sleave' is tight, cannot move, so I loaded it up with P.B.Blaster and left it under pressure with a good vice grip. Question: any better ways to break that loose?

I am guessing if it breaks loose it may be too pitted to use, but want to find out. Those cylinders cost around $40 a piece. I don't intend to skimp on brakes but then to redeem them is meritorious too.

Oh yes! Any available on your shelves after putting on discs?

[Dave72dt]

I don't know if a grease fitting will screw in place of the brake line or not, but if it will you might try that along with a good grease gun and pressure it from the inside out. Maybe a little heat.

Edited December 26, 2010 by Dave72dt
Spelling, again!

[MBF]

Pat-when they're like that I've had to remove them from the vehicle, put them in a vice and persuade the inards out with a brass drift and hammer. You won't know if its able to be salvaged with a honing until you get it apart. I did mine years ago, and they're still working, but I'm thinking of having mine sleeved since the vehicle sits most of the time. Good luck. Mike

[pflaming]

I have the one off the wheel plate and figured the others were coming off as well. Evidently the cylinder is a sleave which means the inners can be DRIVEN all the way through, is that correct?

Paul

OT -- NY Times has a hundred pictures of their best for the year. I did a quick look, not a happy picture in the set. Haiti was prominant, gulf oil spill, etc. not a good year for thousands. The pictures sure made me appreciate what I have and the great nation I live in. It has its faults and its leadership is lacking but still light years ahead of most. And then there is this forum which I really enjoy.

[dumptruckguy]

I would feel better with spending $160 and have it right then to step on the pedal and keep losing the pedal . Replace them and error on side of caution.

[JBNeal]

FWIW the '48 was parked for a couple of decades & every brake cylinder was frozen. I was able to dismantle each cylinder with Marvel Mystery Oil and a bench vise, honed everything out and installed rebuild kits found at NAPA. Pedal was not firm, so took everything apart and lo & behold there was just enough pitting that the wheel cylinders leaked out and the master cylinder leaked internally. In '95, I couldn't find any usable replacements, so I sent them off to White Post Restorations to let them do their sleeving magic. I spent more $$$ on the brakes than I did on the engine, transmission & gas tank combined, but 15 years later, I still have a firm pedal.

[TodFitch]

There has been mention of using a grease gun, hammer and drift, etc. And that when you get the pistons out you may need to sleeve or replace anyway. All true.

Not sure what vintage you are working with, but if it is a stepped bore cylinder, you may not be able to use a drift and hammer.

When I finally got a set of the correct wheel cylinders for my car, a couple were frozen. I just packaged them up and set them to http://www.brakecylinder.com/ where Joe got the old pistons out, cleaned everything out and put in sleeves. I don't recall him charging extra for getting the old frozen pistons out. The cylinders came back looking like pieces of art. Almost a shame to hide them behind a brake drum as they looked so great.

[austinsailor]

I'd rebuilt my 40 sedan's brakes before, but with the small amount of use and a lot of sitting, they'd get pitted and I'd have to go through them again. Even though I could buy new cylinders for about $45 each, plus a hundred or so for a master, I had them sleeved, again by White Post, and in 5 years, no more problems.

One mistake we make is to not flush the fluid every year or two. If we did that, we would probably not have nearly the problems we do. Regular brake fluid is designed to absorb the moisture in the system, but it eventually gets too much to do it's job and pitting and rust starts.

[dumptruckguy]

I didnt know wheel cylinders could be sleeved.

[41/53dodges]

if nothing else, these would seem to be pretty universal for our trucks.

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/subcategory_Brake-Hydraulics_-49997377_13557_10151_10051_-1___?x=0&y=0&zoneAssigned=1

[austinsailor]

You can buy the exact replacement parts for our trucks at a number of places, including several of the suppliers on our links page and NAPA. Master cylinder is in the neighborhood of $125, the 2 ended wheel cylinders around $40 to $45, and the single ended ones for low $20 range. Sleeving costs much more, but you shouldn't have to redo them very often. Both the single ended ones and stepped ones (different diameters on the two ends) can be sleeved.

I did not have my 48 B1B sleeved, just installed new ones. But if I end up going through it again I might.

[HanksB3B]

Paul,

Sleeveing is a much more expensive route to take. I replaced everything with new from Roberts Master Cylinder $129 Front Cylinder $45 x 2, RU, RL, LU, LL

$26.50 x 4. So the all new system was somewhere like $326 (not counting new lines) or shoes. Not nothing, but honestly THIS is the MOST IMPORTANT area not to skimp on. Getting the system to work by fixing one just leads to next week fixing another and so on forever soaking, contaminating and replacing shoes every few weeks is not good use of your time. Wait if you have to but do this job correctly from the start.

My $0.02 worth,

Hank