The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Wheel cylinder sleeving

Now I know Ive read posts in the past about getting wheel and master cylinders sleeved with stainless, I cant seem to find them now...

So if youve had this done what was your experience? What about price (lets just say 1.5" cylinders)?

Most importantly, Who do you recommend???

I appreciate any and all input.

Thanks, Jeff

I cut and pasted this from another thread:

If you ever can't get new cylinders, or just want some to last forever, have the old ones stainless steel sleeved. DON'T mess with brass sleeves.

The guy to have stainless sleeve your cylinders is:
Mark "the machinist" Frappier
82 Mountianview St.
Agawam, MA 01001
413-789-4588, or 800-528-5235

You send him your bare, stripped, clean cylinders, and he sends them back with a perfect looking stainless insert.
You will still need to go to NAPA and get rebuild kits, or perhaps Jim Carter sells kits?

Grigg

ABS in Orange, CA (www.abspowerbrake.com) does them. Kind of pricy though. I had an unusual slave cylinder done as nothing was available. If you can find new wheel cylinders they are probably cheaper than having sleeves installed.
Fred

I have not personally had any done by Mark Frappier, but the shop I worked at for a while had him sleeve a number of cylinders while I was there, and I have seen first hand the nice work he does. (I am a machinist by trade, and know good work when I see it)

You will have to call him for prices, but my recollection is he was very fair, and many times for the older vehicles actually cheaper than new, and the longer life of stainless is a huge bonus. I would happily pay more for stainless sleeved cylinders than original cast ones if given the choice.

Grigg

White Post Restoration in VA does this also. I've heard it was pricey, but worth it.

http://www.whitepost.com/brake.html

I had my back ones sleeved with stainless and rebuilt. I bought new front ones and they were inferior to the originals. This won't apply to yours but because mine are Huck style, the thinner metal on the adjusters caused a failure. I paid more for the rebuild but it was well worth it.

There is a place here in Tacoma ,wa. that will resleeve your cylinders with stainless for around $125 for master and $60 per wheel. The place is Hagens Garage in Puyallup, Wa.

The restoration shop I worked at was about 20 minutes from white post, and several of the people where I worked had previously worked there. They did not have many good things to say about wheel cylinders sleeved with brass, they had to use them in the shop, but were not fond of them, they said stock ones gave less problems when rebuilding a brake system. Apparently white post makes a fair amount of money of the cylinder sleeving business, and will stand behind the work, but you may not want to deal with the aggravation and time it takes to ship them back as many times as it takes to get good results..

White post only uses brass to sleeve cylinders (last I heard, about a year ago) along with some other problems it does not wear as good, sounds like a good idea, but turns out to be not so good in actual use.

We had an old V8 ford come in for a complete restoration, and when we got to the brake system it had some white post brass sleeves, they did not look very good at all. We sent them to Mark for new stainless sleeves, that solved the problem.

Grigg

Thanks! That was what I was looking for. Eventually Im gonna put Bendix brakes in the COE and it seems from reading other posts that the new replacements arent nearly as well made as the old ones. So Id like to get the old ones sleeved if they are in reasonable shape.

I dont know the meaning of half assed so Id rather do the job once and do it right. Who cares if it costs a little more, its only money, more will come along.

Thanks for all the input! Jeff

Hi, the problem with cast iron wheel cylinders is rust which is absorbed as soon as you open a can of brake fluid. Brake fluid should be replaced every year because of this absorbsion problem. It should be bought in small quanities as it is less likely to get contaminated if stored and reopened over a period of time. Instead of sleeving the cylinders would silicone fluid be an answer...I knowthe system must be flushed clean as silicone will not mix with regular brake fluid. Also silicone will not destroy paint if it is spilled on the finish I have heard both pros and cons on the subject of using silicone brake fluid. I used it for a while in a 36 chevy pickup I had for over a year with no problems, then I sold the truck. Thinking of replacing the fluid in my current 36 Chevy with silicone again. Anyone here have some comments on the subject. Is this an alternative to sleeving?

Another thing I was told, by an elderly mechanic, is geniune brake fluid is an excellent rubber lubricant. He would use the replaced fluid or fluid that was blead into an oil pump style squirt can and lube the rubber mounting bushings and suspension rubber bushings parts. I used that advise for years and my rubber parts under the car or truck look great and without any cracks. Just my experience, any one else heard and use this trick.

Silicone based fluid will eat the rubber parts. It may take a few years (probably less) but it will, unless you can find rubber parts made specifically for dot 5 fluid, in which case let all of us know!

Vaseline works great for keeping rubber parts good. Plus no worries about getting it on your paint.

Hi, thanks for your reply. I believe I read somewhere that silicone will swell the rubber parts eventually causing the deteriation of the wheel cylinder rubber cups. Never heard of Vaseline for a rubber lubricant but I will give it a try on the bushings, as you stated...its a lot easier in case you should get any on the paint...THX.

The 52 service manual specifies brake fluid to be used as a lubricant when pressing the rubber bushing holding the driveshaft center support bearing into the housing.
I followed the instructions for that procedure, and it works.
Something to do with it not lasting that long, and the bushing will remain tight in the housing, where it may not with other types of lubricants?

I don't have much experience with the silicone fluid, but what I have seen is that it's not a good idea for old vehicles. It could be if you could get all new rubber parts that are silicone compatible, but that's not the case yet. Without good rubber parts the Silicone is great at finding and creating leaks.

Personally I will use stainless steel sleeved cylinders, and regular brake fluid. Depending on the vehicle and it's use I would even consider sending new never used cast iron cylinders off to be sleeved.

Grigg