anyone know a good source for purchasing wheel cylinders? i have a '75 fj40 and she needs all eight replaced. (front and rear -drums all around) it seems to be cheaper to buy them all separately but the trouble is i cant find a company that has them ALL in stock at once and i don't want to mix manufacturers. sorry if this is a a stupid question but i've been searching for hours. any suggestions much appreciated.
wheel cylinders advice
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Have you examined the bore on any of your cylinders? You might be able to rebuild them. Mixing brands or suppliers should not be an issue. I thought 75 models had disc front brakes.
We buy the aftermarket ones from CCOT however half of the time you have to swap the threaded part from the original cylinders because the slot in the aftermarket cylinders is to narrow for the large end of the brake shoe.
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my bad - i have four fj40's and i get confused sometimes. sorry. she is a seventy FOUR. and no i haven't inspected the bore and maybe that's the route i will have to go - rebuilding them all. which is not the end of the world.
In my experience, drum brakes aren't worth it, I'd convert to discs. I redid all my brake cylinders in my 74 when I bought it, and two years later, the front brakes were too far gone to rebuild. I converted to discs in the front, and they went 19 years before I rebuilt them, and they were still going. Unless its a show truck that you don't drive, I'd convert to discs... You'll come out ahead in the end.
Drum brakes are fine as long as you adjust them. Don't sweat the pitting in the center of the cylinder. It is outside the sealing surface because the pistons fully retract after each use. Worry about worn bores and pitting on the seal surface.
Pinhead, I HIGHLY value your input on almost everything, but in this one instance I have to disagree. These 40's are heavy and need all the help they can get to stop on the highway. If all driving is being done on the trails or 40 mph, I'm sure the drums are OK, but at highway speeds, the disc brakes will outperform the drums by magnitudes, plus you avoid the issue of drum brake fade, which was the bane of my existence when I was a street racer in my younger days. (not in FJ40's by the way)
75's are still drums all around. If you have 4 wheel drums, and ambulance doors, it's a 75. Disc brakes came along at the very tail end of 1975 (9/75) but were really only prevalent from 1976 onward. I have a 75, and I'm in the process of converting to 4 wheel discs using components from an FJ62 axle.
^^^ This. My drum brakes will easily lock up the wheels, there is no lack of stopping power, but a year of adjusting and fooling around (and now the rears are leaking) led me to ditch them altogether. It's marginally more expensive (a couple hundred, tops) to buy a donor Mini Truck, FJ60/62, or later model FJ40 (78+ I believe) front axle, which will give you larger patern, stronger, course-spline birfields, and mount them in your stock 75 housing. You just need to grind a little off the housing to get the larger patterns to fit. It's also about the same price to rebuild the rears, or buy a bolt-on Monte Carlo rear disc conversion kit from Poser here on the forum. I priced it out when my rears started leaking. 4 wheel cylinders, new shoes, and fresh drums were only about $30 less than a rear disc conversion kit. Unless you're going for a 100% stock restoration, I'd stop messing with drums altogether.
Obviously there is brake line re-plumbing, master cylinder modifications, proportioning valves, etc. to get 4 wheel discs to work properly but it is money well spent, in my opinion.
brian
SILVER Star
9/75 was the start of the 1976 model year.
I have to disagree.
We can disagree. I had rear drums with front discs on my '76. I have had plenty of 4 wheel drum brakes up to 2.5 ton trucks. They were all good when properly adjusted and functioning. After market rear disc brakes can be dangerous if they lock up first.
I do agree with Pin_Head, properly adjusted drums that are in good condition will work fine. I've driven many drum brake equipped commercial trucks... Which I checked the adjustment daily. I can't say I've ever missed adjusting brakes, or worrying about drying the drums after a water crossing before going down a steep decent.
Locking rear brakes drum or disc are very dangerous, it is important to have a properly working proportioning valve to ensure the correct balance. The locked axle will always pass the one with turning wheels, and from experience I can assure you it's no fun on the road.
I kept the 4 wheel drums on my '74 Pig long after it was fashionable to do so, and I was very proud of them. I've owned this Pig 26 or 27 years now, and I bought new OEM from the dealer back when you still could. I rebuilt them all several times. NAPA was always an easy source for the rebuild kits. They were cheap too. I always used anti-seize on the outside of the adjusters, were they sat in the cup on the cylinder, so my adjusters always moved smoothly. This is very important, IMNSHO. After years of working with drum brakes, I got to the point were I could feel in the brake pedal travel when it was time to adjust again. I would just roll under the rig and turn each adjuster one notch tighter.
I think 33s was the biggest tire I ran with 4 wheel drums (had to go front discs with the SOA and power steering) but I could lock up all 4 33s whenever necessary and sometimes just for fun (found that the sound of me locking up worked as well, or better, than a functioning horn....which I did not have).
Drum brakes will do the job very well if you do not over drive your vehicle. I had some trouble with brake fade while flat towing an FJ40 through some hills, I kinda lost brakes altogether after some water crossings...but they are a very fulfilling hobby if you can dedicate the time and effort into them.
I think 33s was the biggest tire I ran with 4 wheel drums (had to go front discs with the SOA and power steering) but I could lock up all 4 33s whenever necessary and sometimes just for fun (found that the sound of me locking up worked as well, or better, than a functioning horn....which I did not have).
Drum brakes will do the job very well if you do not over drive your vehicle. I had some trouble with brake fade while flat towing an FJ40 through some hills, I kinda lost brakes altogether after some water crossings...but they are a very fulfilling hobby if you can dedicate the time and effort into them.
I think it is universally agreed that drum brakes WILL stop a land cruiser in most driving conditions if properly maintained and adjusted. They served on every land cruiser sold in the US for almost a decade and a half, and even longer overseas. It's simply a matter of maintenance, and how much, or little, you want to perform. They worked great on my truck, until they didn't - then they were downright terrible.
We have gotten a little (lot) off topic. @disfukinguy - If you want to rebuild the drums, I have heard mostly good things about NAPA rebuild kits, or NAPA rebuilt cylinders (getting harder to find). I have heard mixed reviews about the CCOT cylinders. Primarily, that they need to be "burped" prior to installation, or they trap air, and you wind up with soft brakes. Some say they are durable, others find them leaking in 6 months. There should be no problem "mixing and matching" your sources if you need to. Again, I have no experience with any of them, as I've opted to go to discs (6 months ago, still working on it
) but when I was looking to rebuild the drums, I was going to go with NAPA's, for what it's worth.
We have gotten a little (lot) off topic. @disfukinguy - If you want to rebuild the drums, I have heard mostly good things about NAPA rebuild kits, or NAPA rebuilt cylinders (getting harder to find). I have heard mixed reviews about the CCOT cylinders. Primarily, that they need to be "burped" prior to installation, or they trap air, and you wind up with soft brakes. Some say they are durable, others find them leaking in 6 months. There should be no problem "mixing and matching" your sources if you need to. Again, I have no experience with any of them, as I've opted to go to discs (6 months ago, still working on it
) but when I was looking to rebuild the drums, I was going to go with NAPA's, for what it's worth.
I'm with Pighead. CCOT makes nice calendars.
I bought new rear cylinders from Napa and they were great-(cheaper than rebuild kit).
Front cylinders-I converted to disks and could not be happier.
I bought new rear cylinders from Napa and they were great-(cheaper than rebuild kit).
Front cylinders-I converted to disks and could not be happier.
I just swapped to a disc conversion. I have four rebuilt front cylinders available from my '72. PM me if interested
It's not recommended to rebuild/replace just one side… the other's bound to fail now.
