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If you decide to try and remove them you could start with your air compressor but put the wheel cylinder in a vise first with just enough room for the piston to clear so it doesn't count out with excessive force! If that doesn't budge them a grease gun certainly will but you will need to make up some fittings.
Alternative to the grease gun is to use your pressure washer, again fittings will need to be made. Just hook the mess up and drop the slave cylinder in a bucket of water so the piston does not go shooting across the garage when it comes out. I have yet to come across one that wont come out using the pressure washer.
I spoke to a Ted at Then And Now Auto Parts (781-335-8860). He said they have pistons for my 1950 F5 Wagner Lockheed FD4510 rear wheel cylinders. It was the only place I was able to find them. I gave him the casting number FD4510 and bore size of 1-1/2 inches. Per Ted, that casting number was available in different bores. He may have what you might need.
Also, I am having the cylinders sleeved with stainless steel. I pasted the following info from another web site where the gentleman was recommended. He was the best deal I found. He seems like a good guy too.
The guy to have stainless sleeve your cylinders is:
Mark "the machinist" Frappier
82 Mountianview St.
Agawam, MA 01001
800-528-5235
Update: I received my wheel cylinders back and Mark Frappier did a beautiful job. He specializes in sleeving brake cylinders with stainless. Very reasonable and very nice work!
Thanks Nelson, good to know there is another resource out there. I ended up calling Brake and Equipment warehouse and explaining my situation. They had some ideas, re-use mine if I can get them out, send them to them and they will get them out and if all goes bad they can "make" me new ones but need to measure an old one to make the new. I'm sure the latter would be spendy because of the machining cost. They also said they have some 1 3/8 bore pistons that might match up. I will also check with your guy and see what he has for new pistons. I will be keeping the Lockheeds just in case I want to have them sleeved in the future but for now I'm going to use the Raybestos. Either way I have to sort out the pistons. My attention has turned to the power yokes and comp rings today and I am afraid it has made me stop worrying about the brakes. Hard to explain without pics but it will be the next big challenge, second only to the wheel bearings.
Power yoke and compensating ring. I think the pin holes can be overbored with new bushing but what should a guy use to make new pins? Mild steel, maybe bronze. Strength is not my concern as much as something that is workable. I'm leaning towards bronze to stop corrosion.
The old pins look much like leaf spring pins. Chrome plated steel is my best guess. Bronze can be bought in 3/4 diameter with yield strength from 8k to 50k. Mild steel would be super easy to work with but I would have to make sure they never rusted in or the next guy is gonna get the shaft. On a side note McMaster Carr has every oillite bushings under the sun so sourcing those should be no problem. Just need to figure out what the overbore will be.
Here is a link to a engineering document for Oilite bearings. On page 3 it talks a little about shaft material. It is a quick read and might be helpful.
Thanks for the oillite link Nelson. They sell a boat load of different sizes so I should be able to find something that works. And thanks for the heads up about Then and Now. Got my four new piston cups yesterday, Ted was very helpful.
Do the pins for the power yoke run in an oil bath or are they greasable from the outside? For pins I like to buy pre hard 4140 from speedymetals it comes hardened ground and polished, yet it is easily machined and cross drilled.
I think Coleman used oillite bushings so the pins would not have to be greased or oiled. Oillite bushings are vacuum impregnated with oil, friction releases the oil to lube the pin. I will check into those pins you mentioned. Thanks
Had some good progress lately. Found a machine shop that will rebuild the power yoke/ compensating ring, remake all eight pins and two of the keeper bolts that hold the pins in. Also got the passenger side spindle on. A major pita. Before it would fully seat the lower race it would lift the truck off the jack stand. Ended up running a chain under the jack and over the spindle so it would push against itself.
Dropped the hubs off at the machine shop. I initially just wanted their opinion on the pin bores. I thought they might be ok but they felt at a minimum the outer pin holes should get bushings and maybe the inners once they mic them. They are also going to make 4 new case hardened pins. When these are done I can get it back on its wheels.
Are those Ford brakes or Coleman? Mine are also simple like yours but possibly slightly different, hard to tell from the picture. I need to pull mine back off and get the shoes arched to match the drums. Brakes are OK but should be better. On your big truck I would urge you to do the same if you haven't already.
01-08-2019, 03:30 AM
