Brakes

[thePunter1]

Hi All,

I bought some new brake shoes and this morning I pulled off the drums and the old shoes. I have read on this forum to check the cylinders to see if they were leaking. So I pulled back the rubber dust covers and this is what I found.



I didn't know what they meant when people have said to check for the brake fluid leaking - now I do. You can also see the rust in the brake fluid.



You can also see from the backing plate that the paint is stripped presumably from leaking brake fluid.

I guess I am off to the shop to get a couple of new cylinders. Thanks to this forum I knew what to check for and hopefully I will have better brakes soon.

David.

 

[NICOTOY60]

It is better to change the cylinders of wheels has every change of the shoes of brake, change your liquid of brake and verifie that your front brake is not to seize up(to jam) .............

 

[Eric Winkworth]

brake cylinders are cheap! and if I've learned one thing since I got a cruiser, there is nothing scarier than pushing your pedal and not having brakes

 

[Ron R]

Your picture is a bit out focus so it's difficult to see what's in there, but it doesn't look as if it's brake fluid.
Could be a kind of grease (not real grease like 'dino-grease') especially used to protect hydraulic parts.
This kind of grease is silicone-based AFAIK and doesn't harm the rubber seals.
Have you lost hydraulic fluid?

 

[roscoFJ73]

Your picture is a bit out focus so it's difficult to see what's in there, but it doesn't look as if it's brake fluid.
Could be a kind of grease (not real grease like 'dino-grease') especially used to protect hydraulic parts.
This kind of grease is silicone-based AFAIK and doesn't harm the rubber seals.
Have you lost hydraulic fluid?

It looks like a combo of water ,rust and fluid to me

 

[Ron R]

It looks like a combo of water ,rust and fluid to me

Yes, can be. But what is triggering me is that only the area very close to the covers is greasy. If he realy had leaking cups, the whole backplate should be wet and dirty, unless he managed to clean everything except the brakecylinder-housing.

 

[crushers]

when in doubt...change it out.

but
did the pedal feel spongy? did you ever have to add fluid? if no to both questions then there is a strong chance there is nothing wrong...

 

[roscoFJ73]

Yes, can be. But what is triggering me is that only the area very close to the covers is greasy. If he realy had leaking cups, the whole backplate should be wet and dirty, unless he managed to clean everything except the brakecylinder-housing.

Ive seen them like that before when it is just beginning to leak and the rubber is tight enough to hold it in there.
They are under $3o each so I would replace

 

[thePunter1]

Yes the picture is out of focus so it looks a bit like grease - but I can assure you that it was just rusty old brake fluid.

Anyway, I replaced them for $33.00 for the pair. Not worth worring about - just do it. Didn't take long either. I have much better brakes now and the handbrake works if I put it on really hard. I think I still need to play around with the proportioning valve as mentioned in one of the other threads.

David.

 

[Ron R]

Yes the picture is out of focus so it looks a bit like grease - but I can assure you that it was just rusty old brake fluid.

Anyway, I replaced them for $33.00 for the pair. Not worth worring about - just do it. Didn't take long either. I have much better brakes now and the handbrake works if I put it on really hard. I think I still need to play around with the proportioning valve as mentioned in one of the other threads.

David.

Whatever, you took the safe side replacing it. That's the best way to go. Don't mess with brakes or you might go quite a different way, never needing any brakes any more.