Working on the 54 Hudson Hornet over the last couple days as my wheel cylinders were leaking. I thought I had cross referenced them correctly. The only thing I see that concerns me is the depth I can screw the brake hose in on the new wheel cylinder, barely half way. My old wheel cylinders allowed the hose to screw all the way in with a copper washer. Now the inside of the new wheel cylinder looks like it would seal with my hose but I’ve never had threads exposed before on a wheel cylinder. Is this safe to do or is it a problem & I need to find other wheel cylinders?
looks like that cylinder is made for a steel line, like on the back axle. I would not use it like that
Is that designed for a copper washer? Wheel Cylinder Copper Sealing Crush Washer (Inner) - Oshkosh Equipment
looks to me like it's going to be fine. You have a flare on the end of the hose, and a flare seat in the wheel cylinder. You have as many threads engaged, as the diameter of the threads, don't you? If not, then it could be a problem...how many threads are engaged? what size is the thread?
It appears to have 4 -5 of the 8 threads engaged. I was thinking the inside flairs of the hose end would seal up to the inside of the WC, but not having experienced the exposed threads it made me question it. They are definitely front WC’s at 1&1/8” per the listing for other applications. Actually listed as front & rear applications….
Well you aren't going to have any more thread engagement with a steel line and flare nut. So it should work just as well. However it would bug me just because it doesn't look right.
If it tightens and doesn't leak, it would not bother me. But I'm weird like that, I'm ok with stuff that works as designed.
Might put a small amount of blue loctite on the thread to insure not backing off.Dont use too much ,and have it leak back into the cylinder,and fluid.
If the WCs are the correct size for the front, going by the actual size and not by what the box has printed on it, then the hose/WC is a compression fitting. It should be fine. I'm not too keen on having too long of exposed threaded section, mostly because I would be worried if the hose doesn't allow enough flex that the threaded section could become a weak spot. Otherwise it should be fine. One other note, since you are testing the fit with the WC not installed on the backing plate, the added length of the threaded section may be due to a clearance issue that is not present with the two parts just hanging out in space. With everything mounted on final install the added thread length may become apparent.
If it seals and doesn't leak I would use it, but I would use some loctite on the threads to keep it from backing off from all the movement......just my paranoia.
If tightened correctly it's no more likely to come loose than a steel line with a flare nut on it. And if you used a steel line with a long flare nut it would have as many threads exposed. It's fine.
The hose end with the inverted flare seals against the insert in the wheel cylinder. Don't overthink it. This is not rocket science and safety will not suffer from the exposed threads. If you are anal about these kind of things you could fabricate a small spacer to fill the gap and hide the exposed threads.
If you don't like the way it looks: Cut the fitting down so it only has six threads. Re-machine the flare. Tighten. Bleed. Drive.
Yeah, it would work as is like many have posted, but dont ya think it would look kinda goofy? At a show, even a girl might say" whats up with that brake line?" If you are lucky, you would be off buying a cheeseburger and not hear that, but why not just fix it now
If that were a Ford there would be a mismatch on the thread pitch. The cylinder looks like it was intended for a steel line fitting which is 7/16-24. The brake hose looks like 7/16-20. Like I said, this is definitely the case with early Ford. Can't say on those, but if it doesn't fit like stock something is wrong somewhere. Are you sure you do not have a front/rear unintended switch? Do you have the old parts to compare with? Parting shot: the taper seat might be removeable. (might). Mart. Edit: I just looked and hudson are 3/8-24 on both hose and cylinder so at least the threads match. FWIW lots of Metric hoses connect directly like that, but do not have the inverted seat. I'd still be looking at how the old parts were fitted.
So; what did the old hose and wheel cylinder look like? While that arrangement may work; it just looks wrong.
You know I’d be chasing a cheeseburger didn’t you! Great suggestions everyone & I wanted to follow up to let y’all know I got lucky & found another pair of front wheel cylinders with the correct hose depth I needed to use a copper crush washer to seal it up. There was an approximate 0.025” smaller diameter on the part which seats into the backing plate. I tried it once home & it shouldn’t be a problem. Thanks again everyone!!!
The front are 1.125” bores & rears are 15/16” bores, so there is a definite difference on what this car takes. However the first set of front WC’s I picked up had hose female ends that looked just like the rear WC’s I installed. When I contacted Dorman to ask about the change for “cross referenced” WC’s they said they make changes like what I experienced to make the WC more universal, so they don’t have to make as many different WC’s. Needless to say I’m saving the old WC’s and will be dismantling them to see if they can be rebuilt with a kit & saved as backups.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve heard of re-sleeving & will eventually do it to my 37 Hudson Coupe’s original MC. It’s just so cool to me that Lockheed was involved in making these MC’s with Wagner. Then again, in 1937 hydraulic brakes were pretty much “rocket science”! I’m currently repacking the front outer wheel bearing again as I put it all back together. The red bearing grease had turned black at the bearing. Kinda concerning because I just put in all new bearings, races & seals only 2 months or a couple hundred miles ago. I’m pretty sure I cleaned the new bearings but I could be mistaken, so new grease will tell me how they wear in the future.
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