Finding the "good" wheel cylinder kits...

[rustystud]

Greg, this is what you provided me with about 5 years ago (has it been that long already?!?) when we were talking about having the long-style AirPaks rebuilt:

”The person you want to talk with is "Tim Henderson" at Precision Engineering Rebuilders. The phone number is 1-800-325-2690 . It might take awhile to get to him. I once called for a week straight to be able to talk with him, he is that busy. Try and call early in the morning. Their on the east cost so that is 3 hours difference for me. Tell him you belong to Steel Soldiers. I told him all about us. He might give you a break on price.
Hope this helps.”

Wow ! I cannot believe you found that ! Was that a "private" message, or did I post that ? Either way I'm glad you have it.
Cannot believe it's been over 5 years ! I thought it was just a couple of years ago.

 

[rustystud]

.
@kenn ,

One way a total failure happens is when one of the flex hoses fail. Peddle goes to the floor. Second stab at the peddle pumps more fluid. Your heart is POUNDING and there simply is nothing you can do fast enough to recover in a lot of cases...

My particular failure was in a 5-Ton. Sitting at a railroad track waiting for the train to pass. Truck was running, manual transmission was in neutral. Peddle went to the floor as described. Truck started rolling slowly backward. In 8 or 10 feet, I stabbed the brake peddle several times, and went switched to the clutch. By the time I stabbed the clutch to the floor, the 5-Ton bumped into a 1-Ton Chevy sitting behind me. I turned the truck off, put it in gear and walked back to see how bad it was.

Only thing damaged was the grill. He backed away after the other cars went around. Maybe half the grill was ripped out on the Pintle. This guy was great! Was perfectly willing to allow me (us) to replace the grill a few days later.

After action report was that the brand new foreign manufactured hoses had a manufacturing defect. The crimp connector would blow off the hose with alarming frequency upon testing.

So, the moral of the story: Cheaper isn't always better.

Boy you got that right ! Cheaper just means it will cost you more later.
I replaced all my rubber hoses with the "Braided Stainless Steel" covered Teflon hoses. They should last my lifetime and that of my son too !

 

[rustystud]

Glad you got out of that one without any injuries! Replacing all of the brake lines is something I'll get to very soon as age seems to do a number on hoses. I'm very concerned about the single circuit so new brake lines, replace any leaking wheel cylinders, check/rebuild air pack and master, and a remote reservoir so it is more obvious if I'm leaking somehwere are all on deck.

If you took a mechanical survey of how many deuces on the road have at least one slow leak in a wheel cylinder I'd bet the percentage would be pretty high and many of those drivers don't know as the rubber caps are doing their job well enough to contain the leak... As far as full on sudden, catastrophic brake failure, I wonder what the number one reason was? Pressure, obviously, but a hose or fitting most likely?

Hose failure seems to be the most common failure, followed by leaking (bleed screws) or broken fittings.
I have seen a wheel cylinder piston come out of it's bore twice ! On one the shoes were really out of adjustment and the drums had worn out. That was an immediate loss of brakes ! Came into the shop on a wrecker.
The owner said he was stopping for traffic when the peddle went to the floor and the car kept going. Thankfully since it was a car it had a dual brake system and the owner was able to pull of the road before hitting anyone. I believe he needed to change his underwear though .
The second one was on a 1/2 ton truck and the owner was complaining of poor braking. Pulled the rear drums off and found the piston wedged up on the shoe. Same reason of failure as the car. Out of adjustment shoes and worn drums.
As far as broken brake fittings go, they were all on 4x4 trucks. Of course, they all said they did nothing crazy off-roading.

 

[silverstate55]

Wow ! I cannot believe you found that ! Was that a "private" message, or did I post that ? Either way I'm glad you have it.
Cannot believe it's been over 5 years ! I thought it was just a couple of years ago.

It was in a Private Message I saved.

 

[silverstate55]

Wow ! I cannot believe you found that ! Was that a "private" message, or did I post that ? Either way I'm glad you have it.
Cannot believe it's been over 5 years ! I thought it was just a couple of years ago.

It was in a Private Message I saved.

 

[rustystud]

It was in a Private Message I saved.

It seems all my private messages and saved photos are gone. I had uploaded hundreds of PDF's and photos and had them saved in a folder here, now there all gone.

 

[Computerdoc08]

I found some US made / marked wheel cylinder kits...

 

[rustystud]

I found some US made / marked wheel cylinder kits...

That's a great find ! Who did you buy those from ?

 

[Computerdoc08]

Equipment Parts Sales has them, not sure how many sets they have left.

 

[Gypsyman]

Do you have to call them or do they have an online store? Not really finding anything on them but simple holding pages.

 

[Computerdoc08]

Here is a link to their site, when I first ordered from them I called and they had the item in stock (it wasn't on their website). You can also email Nate at Nathan@equipmentpartssales.com to inquire

EPS

 

[rustystud]

Here is a link to their site, when I first ordered from them I called and they had the item in stock (it wasn't on their website). You can also email Nate at Nathan@equipmentpartssales.com to inquire

EPS

Thanks !

 

[msgjd]

If you took a mechanical survey of how many deuces on the road have at least one slow leak in a wheel cylinder I'd bet the percentage would be pretty high and many of those drivers don't know as the rubber caps are doing their job well enough to contain the leak... As far as full on sudden, catastrophic brake failure, I wonder what the number one reason was? Pressure, obviously, but a hose or fitting most likely?

PMCS PMCS PMCS PMCS !!! None of our trucks (mil or civvie) ever hit the road without a pre-trip , including the brake fluid level check on the mil trucks .. They also get checked at intervals during the operating day. Cracked hoses, rusted lines at the retaining straps, and leaky wheel cylinders happen .. Had a booster fail on a gasser M51 when a squat little car seemingly oblivious of what was behind it stopped unexpectedly way short at a sign .. Hit the pedal hard (bad thing) and then pedal bounced back and got real hard to push but truck didn't slow much. Uh oh.. Yanked parking brake, got it stopped, it was certainly a pucker moment and lucky it happened around 20mph .. From the view over the hood I swear the bumper was up over the trunk and about to pop out the rear window .. But somehow nothing touched the car .. whew

 

[Mullaney]

PMCS PMCS PMCS PMCS !!! None of our trucks (mil or civvie) ever hit the road without a pre-trip , including the brake fluid level check on the mil trucks .. They also get checked at intervals during the operating day. Cracked hoses, rusted lines at the retaining straps, and leaky wheel cylinders happen .. Had a booster fail on a gasser M51 when a squat little car seemingly oblivious of what was behind it stopped unexpectedly way short at a sign .. Hit the pedal hard (bad thing) and then pedal got hard but didn't slow much. Yanked parking brake, got it stopped, it was certainly a pucker moment .. From the view over the hood I swear the bumper was up over the trunk and about to pop out the rear window .. But somehow never touched the car

.
Lifesaver for sure.
Quick Thinking made it possible to save the oblivious !

 

[fungus]

It looks like NAPA kit UP 1926 is the right bore; I don't know if it will be the same length spring however.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/UP_1926?impressionRank=1

I'm going to order one of these and compare it to stock. This might result in leftover parts, but if you just want the original style springs then you can use the new rubber from the other kits. Right off the bat I can say that the dust boot looks different in the NAPA kit.
Pardon my ignorance if this is the wrong place to post, I realize this thread has been dead for a year.