Any luck rebuilding wheel cylinders?

[Young Ed]

1 hour ago, Los_Control said:

would be nice if they had them for our little trucks, I only saw the bigger drums 

On the other hand, if someone is geared up to re-pop the power wagons, might not be that big of a step to add the others if there was a market.

Michael Warshaw is reproducing car drums so if they are the same then new ones are available

[Plymouthy Adams]

very practical and the way many should look at their old vehicles when going through them for service on the highways...for the not so often drive...the stock brakes will suffice...I guess if you really look at it the originals will do well for daily....GIVEN....you stay on top of the maintenance and tweaks they require and in MHO use the proper tool that not only will allow adjustment of the brakes, but ensure the proper wear pattern at the same time.   Personally I like the modern upgrades, if out of town and the odd repair rears its ugly head, you not just sitting there waiting for a special order part to come in.  Oh you can carry spares...but eventually yo have no room for luggage.....lol

[Los_Control]

11 minutes ago, Jeff Balazs said:

There are so many ways to look at this situation. I suppose a lot depends on how you intend to use the truck

Yes sir I agree completely. I also am building a daily driver. I am not looking to do a pristine restore, just trying to get all the rust covered with paint, grease where it should be and brakes would be nice to have.

 

I live in a small town with less then 3500 people. It is a old town and has some neat history and dilapidated buildings.

I drive 10 blocks one direction to the hardware store, takes me past the library, city hall, post office and police station.

I drive 10 blocks the other direction, would be the gas station, auto parts store, liquor store, grocery store, freeway .

And that is 90% of my driving. All in town and 35mph.

 

The rest of my driving, walmart, napa, Dr's office , I take my newer cars ... that is a 30 mile drive on a two lane road, which would be fine for the old dodge.

Problem is, West Texas, the 2 lane road is 75mph speed limit, which means everyone drives 80mph+.

Even with a rear end swap, I think I can comfortably get 70mph from the dodge flathead, I am still going to get ran off the road from everybody driving 80+

I can still drive the frontage road along the freeway to the other towns, speed limit is 55 and where all the slow moving vehicles drive.

Lot of farming and ranching, tractors on the roads.

 

[Jeff Balazs]

The reason I brought it up was to put some emphasis on how important it is to look at what it is we build with a realistic point of view. The world is full of projects that don't get driven much. That is OK I suppose if that is what you are after........but there are steps you can take to make these trucks very functional. It is all in how you chose to look at it.

Jeff

[DJ194950]

Moparpro (mike) appears that he had some drums made for Plymouths but they appears one piece not drum and separate hub.

 

Too bad as some drums from Plymouths seem to fit some Dodge trucks (1/2t&3/4t) fronts only, but the hubs are different according to a quick look at a interchange manual.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-1956-PLYMOUTH-BRAND-NEW-BRAKE-DRUMS-RIGHT-SIDE-AND-LEFT-SIDE-INCLUDED/183710011362?hash=item2ac5f84fe2:g:xmcAAOSwYMldSyF~

[Matt Wilson]

For what it's worth, if the grooves in your drums are not deep, and it sounds like they are not, based on you saying that you could clean them up with just a few thousandths removed, I would probably just run them as is.  I did that for several years on my Power Wagon, and the brakes worked quite well.  Those drums were somewhat rough-looking, probably worse than yours, but it was never a problem.  Running them as is will eliminate the possibility of them getting screwed up by a careless "machinist" at a brake shop, which is also what happened to the drums on my Power Wagon at one point.

 

As for wheel cylinders, you might reconsider buying new ones.  I bought new ones from NAPA a couple of years ago (again, for my Power Wagon), and was surprised to find that they contained ferrous pistons, instead of the aluminum pistons I had seen for so many years.  The ferrous ones are better, as they will produce little or no galvanic corrosion from the dissimilar metal reactions between the pistons and the cast iron cylinder, unlike the aluminum pistons, which will contribute to such corrosion.  Just a thought...

[Los_Control]

25 minutes ago, Matt Wilson said:

For what it's worth, if the grooves in your drums are not deep, and it sounds like they are not,

I really am pleased with the drums, they were pretty new when the truck was parked. The driver side has no ridge at all, not even from normal wear. The passenger side after cleaning it up some. The ridge on the inside is more of a build up of dust and crap where the shoes do not run. Clean the dirt out and that ridge is gone.

 

30 minutes ago, Matt Wilson said:

As for wheel cylinders, you might reconsider buying new ones.

DCM emailed me this morning and stated the order has shipped (wheel cylinders & seals).

One wheel cylinder, the cups will not come out. And this is my fault I believe.

I have never heard or seen stepped bore wheel cylinders before. I was simply trying to drive the cups out, from one side to the other.

The first wheel cylinder they popped right out.

The second cylinder, the piston bottomed out and refused to move further ... so I cleaned and oiled the bore the best I could and beat it from the other side.

Now both cups are bottomed out, the aluminium cups are all beat to crap, I have to replace it. If I have to replace 1, I will replace both as a pair.

 

Live and learn, today knowing more about the process, I would try using air to blow the cups out first.

I could put a self drilling screw into the cups and pull them out, then see if I can save the cylinder .... new ones are available and seems the right choice here.

 

Been bending brake lines this morning, hope to have them finished and ready for install today .... I still need to brush paint on the frame before the new lines.

[John-T-53]

For what it's worth, I got my new wheel cylinders from Roberts when I rebuilt the brakes over 10 years ago. Not sure where they were made, but they are still doing the job. I probably should do an inspection soon, but I just keep driving it. Stagnation is the enemy of cast iron brake cylinders. Sleeving with stainless or brass is a great solution if you don't drive it that much.

[Los_Control]

On 10/7/2019 at 12:49 AM, John-T-53 said:

For what it's worth, I got my new wheel cylinders from Roberts

I looked at Roberts, they were even a few dollars cheaper then DCM.

When you order from DCM, they offer 2 different mounting bolt spreads, 1.75" & 2" I have 1.75"

I

Roberts did not offer that choice, I assume they have one size and I would just be hoping it was the right size.

I just feel more confident knowing I ordered the right mounting option.

Still not received a tracking # for ups yet, will contact DCM later today and ask.

They arrived today,  Ordered Thursday, they shipped Friday, delivered Monday .... extremely fast service.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Los_Control

[Los_Control]

Here is a hrmmm moment. I decided to go ahead and try to rebuild the master cylinder, it really seemed to be in good shape. It actually worked cleaning it up and putting back together.

So I took it apart again and spent more time with it soaking and honing, and installed a new rubber cup.

Then I bench bled it, it bled out quickly just a few strokes and no more air. 

 

When I bled it, I connected a temporary line to it with a rubber gas line to flex back into the reservoir ... improvising with what I had available.

When I remove this line, naturally all the fluid runs out and the cylinder is dry.

Wondering if I will have to try and bench bleed it on the truck again, before installing the real lines?

Or if I just do not pump the cylinder before installing the lines it will be ok?

 

I need to modify the routing of the new lines, did not want it pissing brake fluid all over me while under it working on them 

 

 

[JBNeal]

I recently replaced the master cylinder in this truck (twice, thanks to a weepy seal in the 1st one), and came up with a quick solution from my First Aid training:  STOP THE BLEEDING

I secured the MC into the truck with the bleeder tubes taped into the reservoir so it was still full...had plenty of blue paper shop towels, so I tore off a couple of corners, twisted them tight, then screwed them into each port after backing out each respective bleeder tube...this dramatically slowed DOT3 loss, so I was able to hook the bled MC to the system with minimal mess

[RedHot71]

Whitepost.com.  They were a bit pricey, but like brand new.  I was very pleased w/them & they work great.  I wanna say in the $300.00 range for the (2) rear cylinders.  My truck is a B3-J 2 1/2 ton dump.  Hope that helps.

[Los_Control]

1 hour ago, RedHot71 said:

Whitepost.com.  They were a bit pricey, but like brand new.  I was very pleased w/them & they work great.  I wanna say in the $300.00 range for the (2) rear cylinders.  My truck is a B3-J 2 1/2 ton dump.  Hope that helps.

Thanks for the tip, I will check them out.

 

 

On 10/9/2019 at 5:10 PM, JBNeal said:

STOP THE BLEEDING

I have had this master cylinder in & out twice so far. Ran into problems with the old brass fittings being cross threaded.

I knew the 4 way fitting was cross threaded, I could not find another, so switched to 2 T's. That's why I left the new lines long so I could twist them as needed in place.

I then found the brass fitting on the master was also cross threaded, so I pulled it back out to replace it.

Now I have it back in, and can route the lines as needed, I also picked up a 5/16" plug to take care of the extra hole in the 2 T's. This plug will work to hold the fluid, when I pull the master for the 3rd time, bench bleed it again, then connect it to the finished lines.

 

I Have a new floor pan to install, I finally cut the old floor out last night. Now I can finish the lines from the top instead of laying under it.

Now I am more concerned with getting this area cleaned and painted, then finish the lines.

Just take advantage of the nicer weather to paint, before it gets to cold to paint.

So much work in this area needs to be done before the floor goes back in. Shakes head and sighs  ?

Clutch pedal bushing is bad

E-brake is froze & cable is broke

Service the u-joints and replace as needed

Shifting linkage needs dis assembled and cleaned greased

Sure I will find more once I get into it. Sure glad this stuff is fun 

 

 

 

[RobertKB]

3 hours ago, RedHot71 said:

Whitepost.com.  They were a bit pricey, but like brand new.  I was very pleased w/them & they work great.  I wanna say in the $300.00 range for the (2) rear cylinders.  My truck is a B3-J 2 1/2 ton dump.  Hope that helps.

 

I have used White Post several times and always been extremely pleased with the finished product and durability. I think they are better than new. I always send old wheel and master cylinders made either in the US or Canada. Check out their website.

[1949 Wraith]

On 10/14/2019 at 11:18 AM, Los_Control said:

 Ran into problems with the old brass fittings being cross threaded.

I knew the 4 way fitting was cross threaded, I could not find another, so switched to 2 T's. That's why I left the new lines long so I could twist them as needed in place.

I then found the brass fitting on the master was also cross threaded, so I pulled it back out to replace it.

Now I have it back in, and can route the lines as needed, I also picked up a 5/16" plug to take care of the extra hole in the 2 T's. This plug will work to hold the fluid, when I pull the master for the 3rd time, bench bleed it again, then connect it to the finished lines.

 

 

I had the same problem with the  fittings being cross threaded when I changed my master cylinder. I went the route of the two 3 way T's. I was able to find a T with one of the outlets having a male connection, so by joining the 2 T's I had a 4 port junction close to the size of the original. The connections were all 1/4" so I changed the line down to 1/4" to the master since I had to change the cross threaded connection on the master cylinder. I was suprised that reducing inside diameter of the line did not affect my pedal travel(barely an inch to full lock), probably the improved new master.

 

Has anyone sleeved  their master cylinder to reduce the inside diameter and increase ease of braking?

[Los_Control]

3 hours ago, 1949 Wraith said:

Has anyone sleeved  their master cylinder to reduce the inside diameter and increase ease of braking?

This is a good question, I do not think the average person does this work at home.

While the wheel cylinders were suggested to be sleeved, this sounds good.

The wheel cylinders are stepped, have 1 1/4" on one side, and 1 3/8" on the other ... you will have to sleeve them twice.

 

The post above, I think they would do only high quality restoration of a master cylinder. Whitepost.com

Changing the existing diameter to change the needed pressure, would be a experiment and like to hear what you find.

[John-T-53]

I just had all 4 wheel cylinders in my 'shiverlay' sleeved by Karp's Power Brake in So-Cal.....

 

http://www.karpspb.com/brake-sleeving.html

 

They supplied the rebuild kits too.

 

Took about $300 and 4 months....they're busy.