O'reilly Auto Junk wheel cylinders 1951 Mercury

Picked up a set of 4 wheel cylinders from O'reilly Auto parts. They are supposedly made by Wagner, which I always believed to be a good company.
After trying, unsuccessfully to bleed the brake system for about 2 hours,
I took the bleeders out of the cylinders and noticed that none of them are seating in the casting. Even when tight, i am getting air back into the lines and fluid leaking from the bleeders under pressure.

I just want to let others know to be careful using these cheap parts.
This could have been a dangerous thing for someone less experienced.
Hopefully none of you Mercury guys have recently installed Oreilly Auto wheel cylinders. If so, I would consider changing to better ones.

 

Those cylinders were used on quite a few different models with similar drum brake systems applications. I'm affraid your not going to find any new ones that aren't made in China unless you get some NOS ones somewhere. The last ones I purchased were Raybestos and it has "made in China" right on the box. The bleeders are difficult to get a wrench on due to either too much cad plate or machining inconsistencies. The Chinese coolie that put the bleeder valves in tightened them to the point that it grooved the needle tips all the way round but they do seal.

At least you purchased from a local place so you can bring the defective parts back. If you buy them from Rock Auto or some other catalog vendor, you'll be somewhere close to SOL about an easy fix.

 

I've had nothing but trouble with Wagner brake parts. My local supplier was using Raybestos, but switched to Wagner. I have ordered four sets of Wagner brake shoes for pre-1970 cars in the last 6 months....ALL of them had primary linings on both shoes. I have been using Raybestos for years and never had a problem. I have switched suppliers and I am now using Centric. To me the quality seems way higher on Raybestos and Centric and the price is usually competitive.

 

Time to hope decent rubber bits are out there and to get into the lost art of rebuilding... If you are lucky on the corrosion front, you can hone and rebuild. If things are bad, White Post resto will bore them out and insert brass sleeves.
Another lead is Richard at Early V8 garage...he is deeply into FoMo chassis works and can recommend or sell you whatever is the best available right now.

 

kind of funny this thread only has a couple of replys. wonder where are all those folks who come out of the woodwork to say "just replace you're wheel cyls don't rebuild them". 9 out of 10 replys usually are why waste your time just buy new ones. i have always wanted to set up a fixture to do the insert stainless sleeves.

 

"Just replace" has gotten reeeeeal complicated lately. I believe that all the stuff we need for Fords and Mercs is coming from China now, even the big traditional brands, and you can now get pre-installed brand new leaky seals, bleeders that do not seal, etc. ready to install. The Richard I referred to has checked out the available stuff and knows which give you the best chance.
I think rebuilding and sleeving are going to be increasingly popular sports.

 

I had a hell of a time finding a master cyl for my Impala, one size fits all and doesnt fit anything! Junk Sh*t ! I'm glad I saved the siezed up original maybe I can have a SS sleeve installed in it, anyone do the master cylinders? Rant is now finished Thanks!

 

as a shop owner, the pickings are getting real slim out there. just to second whats already been said, i use Centric where available and raybestos where not.

these days you're always gonna be subject to outta the box junkers, i just have had better luck with these two brands.

 

These people do M/C's...

http://www.brakecylinder.com/

 

I just bought 4 wheel cylinders from Oriellys for a 53 Ford and one started leaking as soon as I started to bleed them. Called them up and ordered anouther set of 4 just to have on hand. I belive they were around $10 bucks each. What do you get for $10 bucks?

Affordable spare parts...

 

Hope you got rid of that one that was leaking, and used one of those spares.... you wouldn't wanna get your shoes soaked in the mean time! It can make more of a headache(finding new shoes if pickins are slim)

 

Maybe I'm lucky but I got mine at NAPA 4 yrs ago and haven't had any trouble. Don't remember who made them. I have found NAPA works best for my Merc parts just buy oil or something like that at the others. Hard to screw up things like that.

 

ive actually had the opposite problem lately, just completely redid the brakes on our60 f100 and the wheel cylinders came in a red box with some raybestos company on it. boy i was surprized, especially when we didnt pay any extra. then went back and got brake pads for the 66 c10 and they had raybestos pads for next to nothing. bot the pads and the cylinders work great! but then again the oreilly near my house is one of the few good ones, where theyll still look in the book because its usually quicker.

 

I just went to bleed my new brakes ('48 ford fronts on the '33 truck). Brand new (or rebuilt?) Dorman wheel cylinders sourced from Rock Auto about 6 months ago. One of the front cylinders started pissing fluid. WTF? Took it apart, everything seems fine to the naked eye. I just ordered 2 new cylinders, by Raybestos. I hope I have better luck with these.

 

Just took back my Raybestos rear wheel cylinders (made in China) and got my money back! Terrible fit...to wide...have no idea if they would have held fluid.

Comfy feeling knowing it's just your brakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I had the option to get new WCs for 10-12 bucks each or rebuild kits for 4 bucks for a 64 C10 we were working on.
I decided to get rebuild kits and showed my 16yr old how to do it correctly.
I did one, he did 3. All turned out good.

16 bucks at O'reilleys and a teaching lesson.

I honestly buy alot from them. Theyre just up the road. Ive had good luck..
so far..

 

We use all the major brands in our shop, and we've seem bad sheit from all the brand names.
What really, really pisses you off is when you go through three F-150 slave cylinders until you find one that bleeds our right.
(You have to pull the Trans to change the slave) doing that 4 times really pisses you off!

 

I love it when parts are bought fro a place like Rock Auto and they dont work.
There are plenty of posts from people praising Rock Auto i.e. "their prices are so low"
Your chance of getting a bad part are increased percentage wise due to the price paid.Ya really think there is any quality control for parts to be built that cheap?
Yes,the brick and mortar parts houses have their share but at least your supporting a local company with faces to talk to not a computer screen.

 

Yeah, I tried my local supplier, they couldn't get anything better than Raybestos or Dorman, and from the same supplier as Rock Auto.

 

The parts all come from the same wharehouses, might as well get the best price when you can. I don't see Orielly's or Autozone on any different level than rockauto except they charge more for theyr'e crappy parts.

 

I used to work at O'Reillys. Believe me its not just their parts its a problem of where they're being made.
I order from rock auto all the time. When i can order the same brands and the same part numbers as i can get locally for less money what's too loose? A little time waiting for shipping? I'm not fixing my daily driver.. i can afford to wait.
I'm lucky and have a store manager that will price match rock auto. To be fair i have the price match to include shipping.

When it comes to buying new parts today its a crap shoot.. if the parts are deffective return them. The manufacturer will never know there's a problem if they don't get bad parts sent back.. then it becomes a question of will they care enough to fix the problem..

Nathan

 

If your car has Bendix type drum brakes on it, why can't you just alter the backing plate to use a better or more common wheel cylinder? All it would be a matter of is maybe welding up the opening and cutting a new one where it sticks through for the bleeder.

 

That's a pretty damn good idea. Any thoughts on which easily-sourced wheel cylinder could replace the '48 Ford cylinder, dimensionally and hydraulically? I think mine are 1-1/8" bore.

 

That may well be true but often items are built to different specs.
NAPA parts dont get nailed with bad parts mentions as some of the others.
There isnt one parts supplier for every part.5 companies may be producing wheel cylinders and all 5 have different specs.Lets call it different grades.They can be packaged at the point of origin in the same boxes but are designated for different retailers.

 

I've bought crap parts from every major retailer.
I've gotten wrong parts from every retailer too.

Its part of the hobby and is what it is.

Nathan

 

Just a note: Ford rear wheel cyls (F150) are the same up until the mid 80's..I used mid 80's on my last 2 shoeboxes...they work fine.
Jim

 

GOOD parts are hard to find these days. online suppliers selling ya china crap for hard earned dough. sometimes its better to go to your local parts store, the one with the old guys, not the teenagers and the computers. once ya get the parts, open box @ counter an look it over. look for evidence of those parts being "pre-tested" make sure the little baggie with the accessories is in the box. if there is a 1/4" or more of dust on the box that could be good or bad depending on if rust has settled in. alot of times it just takes effort to start a working relationship with those crabby parts guys to get GOOD parts.

I know I am gettin down on the teenagers but stuff DOES exist outside the computer screen. You CAN get a bearing/race replacement by crossing the numbers on them! Its NOT voodoo. If ya only go to the old guy parts store when you stumped the teenager or online is 6 weeks out, pretty soon they won't be around. spend the extra nickle more regularly an keep them 'ol duffers out of the nursing home, or worse yet being a "greeter" at wal mart.


I personally DON'T like dorman parts for alot of things- china made exclusively.

 

I've had really good luck just honing and rebuilding my original wheel cylinders on my 59 olds!

 

My leaking cylinder's bore looks great, no signs of any problem. Maybe the rubber cup is defective? It too feels fine though. Weird.

 

Try Moose Motors in Penngrove, CA. The guy's got obsolete brake parts for damn near everything. No China junk. Or he can rebuild your stuff.