Trying to free up '41 ford front brake clinder so I can rebuild with new rubber. I've tried heating a bit but so far....nothing seems to work. Any add'l ideas would be welcome. Been sitting 40 yrs so a bit stubborn.
It is not worth your time unless it is a very special brake cylinder and you want to send it out to get sleeved. If it's that stuck guaranteed the bore is trashed and rubber will not work. JMHO.
push it apart like you would a u joint, one big socket (larger than the inside bore diameter) and a smaller one (fits inside the bore) squeeze it in a vice.
Understand it's best not to cut corners on brakes and I can buy new cylinder...but trying to get rolling in a bit of hurry and only for literally one more drive. Thus...I was trying to avoid hanging a bunch of new stuff on the old car. Whatever I buy will be used for only a bit and go to waste. With that said....don't see many options at this point. Thanks for comments.
Don't screw around rebuilding it-----REPLACE IT!! From previous experience---A stuck cyl. will cause bearing failure from brake shoe dragging & heat build up--Transfers down to over heated bearing!!
If you get to free it up you will only be dissapointed if you re kit it as it will be pitted and wont hold fluid anyway. So fit a new one then when you are done remove it.
Da Tinman's trick will work on a wheel cylinder open at both ends. For a closed cylinder such as a master cylinder, or a wheel cylinder for that matter, put the compressed air to it. If 125 PSI won't shift it it's not going to move. In real desperate circumstances you could use a hydraulic pump like a Porta power or a grease gun. A grease gun will give you over 1000 PSI. I can see doing this if it was a rare cylinder that you were going to bore out and sleeve. But as others pointed out, if it is that stuck it is probably rusted to oblivion. However, it can't hurt to try the air thing. I have done this on master cylinders and got the brakes working well enough to move the car around.
if it is only one wheel, and your just moving it around the lot, pinch off the brake line. big hammer and punch will work, and you might have to use larger cups. THIS INFO IS NOT FOR HIGHWAY USE.
When you do get it unstuck you will most likely find that the piston is all ate up and the bore is full of deep pits. That's why it's stuck. New ones are not that expensive. I'd bet that yours is not rebuildable with out sleeving which costs more than a new cylinder.
i have freed them with kroil and pounding out with a drift. some have been filled with yellow powder and completly dried up, pistons froze solid. honed out pits- sometimes turned new pistons out of brass on lathe. i know most everyone says they will fail but i have put 40,000 miles on ones set of those, 10,000 on another. if people say i'm wrong that's fine, but they are not nec going to fail. if you are careful on the rebuild and it's worth your time, it can work. and the 40,000 mile ones don't leak a drop of brake fluid. sorry, jump on just to say i'm wrong if you want.
Good lord man, what's your time worth? In the time you took to do all that, you could have made more cash at work than new wheel cylinders will cost.
unfortunatly half the stuff i do i could make more at work than if i bought new or paid someone to do it. but this is suposed to be relaxin'/ free time/ fun time. i am not arguing with anyone saying they feel safer or just want to buy new aftermarket offshore stuff. if you like it or want it, do it! but i don't agree with the "i know it won't work" or "you can't do that" stuff. i know these brake threads have 10 pages of don't take any chances replies, again that's fine. the guy wanted to know how it can be done and i told him.
I'm with this guy. I'll try a LOT longer than necessary to fix/rebuild something before I give up. And quite a few times I'll succeed. Yet even if I fail, I've learned something that is MORE valuable than learning how to dial 1-800-buy something. After all, once it's broke, you cannot break it any more. You might fix it. You'll definite learn more than from watching Springer. Cosmo
I'm with the group that says replace it if you plan to drive it on the road but it only costs you time to drive it out and hone the cylinder to see how bad it is. I'd soak it down good with my favorite penetrate and then use either the socket and vise trick or use something round that just fits inside the bore and use that to drive the pistons out. Unless it is pre 60 a kit will probably cost within a couple of bucks of a new cylinder though.
I always pull em apart and look at them, and 99% of the time I just rebuild them, get a hone and give em a good going over, find a kit that works, or buy the cups and seals seperately. If they are heavily pitted yeah get new ones, if not just fix em. Fact is, I know these wheel cylinders fit this car, I dont have to wait a week to get replacements in, only to find out they no longer have rights in stock, so they sent me 2 lefts.
You might want to make sure nobody is standing in the line of fire when that sucker comes out of there.
I used to always rebuild them as well as master cylinders then one time I was buying parts and found out that a rebuilt master with a guarantee was the same price as the parts. My time these days isn't worth as much as it used to be but unless it is an I can't find it part it is still worth more than zero. I did go though a wheel cylinder on my Willys a while back and it cost me zero. it was new and leaking and no it was not made in China, says right on it bendix made in USA. Someone had poked a hole in the rubber boot. I di take it all the way apart and it had started to rust a bit from setting without any fluid in it so I cleaned it up and reassembled it, took a boot from the wheel cylinder that was replaced and it now wokrs fine. Had it not looked good when I got in it and I had not had the pieces I would have just replaced it. If I had a wheel cylinder that could not be replaced I would do the machine shop thing, I do have a machine shop I can borrow when I need to. But on something I can get over the counter and as cheap as they are wpuld rather waste my time on other useless endevors. Sometimes you just got to choose your windmills I guess.
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