Brake Wheel Cylinder -fell apart

[DenverCruiser]

I was in the process of replacing the brake shoes on one of my wheels - long story short one of the wheel cylinders fell apart.

The compression spring, cylinder piston & cylinder boot fell to the floor.

What do I do now? They don't want to stay in due to gravity. Should I just purchase a new wheel cylinder? If yes, from where (NAPA)?

Thanks!

EDIT: Never mind, figured it out! Just had to fit the boot over the lip.

 

[lc69hunter]

unless there was brake pressure, the boot should have held it together.

You have 2 choices (actually three)

If the cylinder is still in decent shape, get a rebuild kit and rebuild it
Buy an OEM or aftermarket replacement
slap it back together and go from there

A bit of advice, any way you go:

replace or rebuild all of them (front or rear) at the same time, or you will just cause failure in one of the others, and besides, it will be a bitch to adjust the brakes if you don't.

 

[DenverCruiser]

Yea, there was pressure applied. I put it back together and going to hope all is well after a bleed. Frankly, I think you are right that they should all probably be replaced, they look pretty bad (well they are 41 yrs old). Will plan on that this year for sure.

Tell you what though, these shoe retaining springs suck to put back on! Have one that broke my will today.

 

[RMC73FJ40]

For what its worth I found a pretty good selection of wheel cylinders from NAPA and Rock Auto....both online...both shipped quickly too.

 

[CruisinMT]

Mine have done that too. I got all four for the rear axle from Cruiser Outfitters i think. either them or JT Outfitters, can't remember. I still gotta get them put on. Thats saturday's project. Mine are just leaking like sives in the rear.

 

[Moto931]

I just did mine on the rear during the front disk conversion. Here is the easy way to put the rears together.
assemble the shoes on the floor or bench like they go on the rig with the springs attached. place the top shoe on the rig. Grab the bottom shoe firmly and stretch it down into place with the springs already attached. Ta-Da - Easy as pie.

 

[Lake Rat]

X2 what lc69hunter & moto931 said. Just remeber to expand the shoes all the way out before you bleed. I didn't realize this little trick when I did my first brake job on my 68 40... that have two cylinders per wheel. I went through about 4 gals of brake fluid (well maybe not that much, but it felt like it!!!) before I called SOR and found out what I was doing wrong (kept leaking down, having to pump the peddle). I bled on those damn things for two weeks!!!LOL!!! . On the retainer spring, yep, they are a pain in my thumb, but I bought a very small C-clamp, I squeeze the spring together against the backing plate, insert the pin with a twist, then let the clamp loose, my thumbs love it!!! Anyway didn't mean to hi-jack the thread, just wanted to pass along my experience. Good Luck Dude!!!

 

[DenverCruiser]

I just did mine on the rear during the front disk conversion. Here is the easy way to put the rears together.
assemble the shoes on the floor or bench like they go on the rig with the springs attached. place the top shoe on the rig. Grab the bottom shoe firmly and stretch it down into place with the springs already attached. Ta-Da - Easy as pie.

THANK YOU!!! I will try this. BTW: when removing both springs were behind the pads, but my Haynes manual has one behind and one in front. Which is it?

 

[DenverCruiser]

X2 what lc69hunter & moto931 said. Just remeber to expand the shoes all the way out before you bleed. I didn't realize this little trick when I did my first brake job on my 68 40... that have two cylinders per wheel. I went through about 4 gals of brake fluid (well maybe not that much, but it felt like it!!!) before I called SOR and found out what I was doing wrong (kept leaking down, having to pump the peddle). I bled on those damn things for two weeks!!!LOL!!! . On the retainer spring, yep, they are a pain in my thumb, but I bought a very small C-clamp, I squeeze the spring together against the backing plate, insert the pin with a twist, then let the clamp loose, my thumbs love it!!! Anyway didn't mean to hi-jack the thread, just wanted to pass along my experience. Good Luck Dude!!!

All the way out with the drum already on?

 

[lc69hunter]

THANK YOU!!! I will try this. BTW: when removing both springs were behind the pads, but my Haynes manual has one behind and one in front. Which is it?

The manual is correct. The Haynes manual just follows the FSM.

However, I have never figured out the reason. It does seem to be more important if for some reason you no longer have the pins holding the shoes in place, and on a number of those I have worked on, the pins and clips were missing.

 

[lc69hunter]

All the way out with the drum already on?

Yes, you get a better bleed that way. Then back them off until they rub, but you can still rotate the wheel. They will wear in quickly