Hello All! I just recently finished re-building the entire brake system in my ’51 ¾ ton. New master cylinder, brake lines and wheel cylinders. Being a world-class tightwad, I purchased my wheel cylinders from a company that had the lowest price. When I received them, I was underwhelmed by the quality of the casting and machining. I even returned one because it had a pin-head sized hole in the casting that leaked brake fluid! Last weekend I filled the brake lines with Dot 5 for the first time, and now another of the wheel cylinders is dripping fluid. My question is; are all wheel cylinder manufacturers the same, or are there some brands that are truly inferior and in the case of brakes, downright dangerous? I may be a tightwad, but I don’t want to save money when it comes to stopping!
??? That is what you did. Cheap parts are just that, Cheap. It is like the door latches from the china clipper pure trash. Yes there are cheapo parts out there. Send Joe a PM to see if he has some new old stock somewhere.
Hydraulic Brake Parts Wagner and Bendix both still make the parts you need , any competent FLAPS can get them for you in a matter of days . Brakes, steering and tires should never , EVER be shortcutted or cheaped out on because you have nearly 4,000 pounds of rolling steel , not easy to stop if one of those parts goes awry whilst you're in motion .
Yeah, I suppose I learned a good lesson. I had ordered them from a supplier in Oregon whom I had done business with before; very pleased with everything else they had sent me but those brake cylinders were an exception. Gonna junk them all (sigh) and go with Wagner or Bendix - Thanks for the help!
I still like NAPA, we have a good one nearby with hot rodders working there. If I have any problems, I know where to go to warranty them out and have great relationships with them to ease the process.
Yes, I agree. NAPA here (San Francisco Bay Area) is generally pretty good, with people behind the counter who are helpful. Not so sure about some of the other chains though! We have a few Mom and Pop stores in the area that have exceptionally good people working behind the counter. I hope they can survive - it's nice to give them the business -
Unfortunately, therer are very few mom and pop stores in the Charlotte area anymore. We do have one, Bradley's on the other side of town. They stock all sorts of racing stuff and high performance parts. They don't even have a calculator. They know what they have, what it fits and where it is with no help of a computer.
Like you I needed a whole new brake system. I got all 4 wheel cylinders from napa for about $200. I'm also a tight wad and like to save as much old parts as possible so dropping around $50 per wheel hurt but they are nice parts.
I think I'll head over to Napa tomorrow, I assume they carry Wagner or Bendix - I have a 3/4 ton '51, I have found that parts just seem to be more expensive for us 3/4 tonners (and a bit more challenging to find). I hope I can do them all for $200, but won't be surprised if more green has to come out of the old wallet! Oh well, I can live on water and toothpicks for a while -
When doing a full brake job, I would also look into replacing all those old brake lines, hard and soft.
