Best Wheel Cylinders for '47 DeSoto?

[Bingster]

There are numerous wheel cylinders available for a '47/'48 DeSoto S-11. Any Made in USA?

[Doug&Deb]

You may be better off rebuilding the ones you have than going aftermarket. 

[Dodgeb4ya]

Best way is have them re-sleeved by the best re-builder.

All wheel cylinders sold new today are chinese junk. Castings are poorly sized and cast. Piston  push rod machined  depth can be erractic using some styles of push rods too.

[Bryan G]

I think it's very safe to say all new production cylinders are coming out of the same town in China. If I were to do mine over again, I'd have had the old ones redone. I bought mine from Rock Auto and I guess I can't complain a whole lot. I mean, they don't leak. The rods were too long and the front ones used a different size bleeder screw vs the rear. But, cheap.

[desoto1939]

Here is the information regarding the NOS whell cylinders as taken from my EIS brake catalog.

 

 

Rich Hartung

[Bingster]

Thanks Rich.  I checked them out.  Is rebuilding my wheel cylinders myself too risky a proposition?  I see rebuild kits and the pistons seem very simple. I don't know if they routinely need to be honed out or good-to-go if they look okay.

[Los_Control]

It is a visual inspection, any scarring or pits need to be honed out to get a clean smooth surface that will seal with the new rubber cups .... they are not forgiving.

Same time if you hone them too much they will never seal.

 

Back in the day when I worked at Texaco gas station it was considered wheel cylinders were good for 1 rebuild with a decent hone if they were leaking.

Sometimes we were wrong & had to replace them.

 

Just saying yours would have to be not leaking, A perfect cylinder bore, to just throw new rubbers in them.

Yours may be like that I have no clue .... A light hone is almost mandatory in my book just to say you did it.

 

The idea of having them re-sleeved with a stainless steel cylinder is creating something that would probably last a lifetime or more.

 

[desoto1939]

21 hours ago, Bingster said:

Thanks Rich.  I checked them out.  Is rebuilding my wheel cylinders myself too risky a proposition?  I see rebuild kits and the pistons seem very simple. I don't know if they routinely need to be honed out or good-to-go if they look okay.

As per Los-Control you will have to inspect each cylinder and then see if they need to be honed. If a light honing is needed then rebuilding should not be any issue. Coat the inside of the cylinder with brake fluid when assembling the new parts.

 

Not a hard job but just takes some time and then have to readjust the shoes to the drum.

 

Rich hartung

[Bryan G]

On a budget a few years back, and wanting to do everything I could with my own two hands, I rebuilt the cylinders in an old Ford I owned. They had no business being redone: a significant portion of each of them had corroded away, right into the bore. But, I went ahead and honed the snot out of them with the power-drill hone I bought at NAPA. I think eventually I had to replace one, maybe two of them, and that was after several years. I wouldn't advocate going to that extreme, but if they look fairly decent, give them a try.

[Bingster]

Can you blast the dirt and grime off the outside of the cylinder or does that endanger grit getting into the bore and piston? My cylinders don't have that crap inside them covering the piston. The red piston is still clean. The car had been running not long before I bought it. I have no idea if they are China pistons or not.

 

The inside of the brake fluid lines where they screw into the cylinder do have a rusty look to them. Will that get into the bore even with a cleaning in solvent?

 

Time vs. $$$. But there is a point where it's a toss up to rebuild or buy new. Is Dorman made in China?