I have purchased my first Ford, a 1996 F350 Diesel and I have to say, I have been totally choked with some of the screwed up engineering I have seen with it. That being said, every vehicle has it's downside. Recently I had my master brake cylinder mounting plate break in half and the cylinder ended up in the engine compartment. My suspicion is that it had been replaced and the push rod was not checked or adjusted for. I purchased a new master cylinder and when I went to install it, I dealt with the 'improved' Ford quick connects for the first time. The problem is that when I went to 'snap' in the line, I ended up tearing the rubber o-ring. Back to the jobber, only to find you cannot buy the rubber seals as a single item. Ford has a 'kit' consisting of a rubber seal and roll pin, price is $50. The other way to get the seal is to buy a new hydraulic line ($110) or a slave ($90). These are the Ford prices, I realize Ebay or jobbers are about 1/2 that. I called Raybestos, Wagner and every other brake / clutch guy I could find and nobody sells the seals. Well here's the deal:

The rubber o-ring used by Ford is actually called a quad seal. I took the quad out of the slave and substituted a 107/E70 o-ring for the missing quad, which has worked really well. Neoprene is never supposed to be used with brake fluid in a dynamic application, but apparently can be approved for static applications (as in the Ford application). My suspicion is that the Ford part is simply a neoprene 107 quad ring. Now I can't advise anyone to swap the two, because I can only report no leaks after one day. I can however say that by ordering the 107/E70 o-ring in EPDM would make it compatible with brake fluid. I am going to try both neoprene quads and EPDM o-rings and will get back to everyone with my experience. Again, this is information only, not a recommendation. I can't advise anyone that this mod is safe, but it worked for me. If anyone else would like to experiment and can't find these (they may not be available to you), let me know and I could provide you with them.

 

I 've run into my fair share of the Ford only stuff, and like you say every vehicle has it's weak points, but, all told these are the BEST trucks ever built IMO and I know lots of people that would agree! So count yourself lucky and not like a friend of mine with an 05 6ooohh that just got hit for $520 for a new powersteering pump!!! that was a ripoff.

 

Well, a $500 steering pump is steep, but compared to a $100 steering pump, it's marked up 500%. Now compare that with a 50 cent quad seal and you have a mark up of 10,000%. But if you can't get the quad seal and are forced to purchase a new master cylinder to get the seal, you just marked it up 20,000%. I would say your friend got off lucky.

 

Have you checked the local parts stores? I recently replaced my slave cylinder. Cost was around $50 from Autozoo.

 

I was just saying that in general these trucks are easier to work on and cheaper to fix (if you shop around) than the newer trucks. I've owned 7 different 7.3L powerstrokes and do all maintanence and repairs myself.
I do know though that some of those dealer only parts can make you choke when you hear the price!

 

What is the condition of your hydraulics? They sell complete kits for a little over $100 that includes everything you need.

 

I just bought a slave cylinder for one of my trucks, got it at NAPA and it was $60.00. I feel your frustration about those crazily inflated prices!

 

Oh, and also I didn't mean you were lucky about that, but that you were lucky to have one of those good ol' 7.3L POWERSTROKES!!!!!!!

 

Yes, I had mentioned in my original post that jobber parts were about 1/2 of Ford, putting them into the costs quoted for the slaves or roughly $100 for a master and slave. The point of my post was not that those prices are so unreasonable, but that you can't purchase the rubber quad ring or the hydraulic line seal as a single item. This is a real problem if you damage a seal during installation, which is what happened to me. NAPA, Lordco and Ford (our only choices in Nelson, British Columbia) do not sell the seal as a replacement item. RayBestos and Wagner confirmed they will not sell the rubber o-ring without the new cylinder.

My hydraulics are fine, it was the damaged rubber seal for the quick disconnect that was damaged during install. I just found it outrageous that no one sells the 48 cent rubber seal as a shop item and was totally choked that the local Ford dealer tried to sell me the 'kit' for $50.

The kit did include the roll pin to hold it in place though which is probably worth 10 cents.