honing wheel cylinders

How much material can I remove from the ID of my wheel cyl.? I am thinking .005" per side might be necessary. Opinions?

 

Maybe .............. scrubba

 

I'm a retired machinest. .005" is a BUNCH of iron in machine work. You're probably thinking .0005", which is half a thousandth. If your cylinders are severly pitted, do yourself a favor and buy new cylinders. Here is a heads up. Rebuilt cylinders are better than new. When most outfits rebuild a cylinder, they bore them out and press in a stainless steel sleeve. I broke a bleeder screw in a GM caliper, and the parts house didn't even stock replacement bleeder screws. A new caliper was $19 bucks. You might be cheaper in the long run to replace them.
Steve

 

Glad I read this ^^.... I almost posted the exact same thing. When I saw .005 I am thinkin your gonna be honing a while

 

Good to know, thanks.

 

you should be "honeing" to clean-up nothing more than some surface rust from water contamination.......

 

Just honed some wheel cyl.....had some pits for sure....but like my super mechanic said....if they are basically in the center...does not matter...the seals do not run in the center....if they are closer to the end...then worry/and or hone.

 

I need to add some info, sorry. The wheel cyl is a 50 Chev front and the only new replacement I've found so far is from Chevs of the 40s. This is listed as 1/16 " smaller ID than original and they are kind of pricey. My wheel cyl is 1.315" ID now and I think would clean up at 1.320". I have the skills and equipment to bore and finish hone the cyl.
I am looking for the parts needed to convert to 51/54 brakes, but I would like to have the car until I have the conversion pieces ready to go.

 

Yeah, they are in the center/bottom of the cyl and the rest of the bore is ok.

 

Five thousandths should be ok. The cups will handle that.
Just takes awhile to do.

 

With that much to hone out I would look around for a shop with something like a Sunnen pin bore honing machine to do the job. You'll stand a better chance of keeping it true round than with a flex hone in a drillmotor!!!!!!!!

 

I agree, I have a couple of possibilitys.

 

Break the glaze and run it. I had a WWII 4X4 and it had two sizes per cylinder.
I just honed a very little and rocked. I used brake fluit as the hone juice too.
Dont think too much into it, just be precise.

 

Thanks to all for your input; I'm going to check the new rubbers before I do anything. Parts should be here by Wed.

 

Joel, I worked in a family owned Parts Store in the 80's and 90's. We sold oversize rubber cups to use when honing cylinders. If you are "Lucky" to have a "Good Old Fashioned Parts House" nearby, ask them about oversize cups. The cups as best as I can remember were measured in thousandths oversize. Good Luck, Jeff

 

I give 'em a quick hone using carb cleaner as lube, maybe 5 seconds back & forth from both directions. Clean with carb cleaner, wipe it out good. If the surface looks uniform, you're good to go. Any pits, replace them. I replace them in pairs only.

Bob

 

Oh, and btw, if you break a bleeder off, just drill the ****er out and rethread to the taper for a UNF fine threaded bolt that fits, I wanna say 1/4" maybe 5/16"??), and go.

Been there, done that and I still have my brake cylinder with the bolt in it out in my garage somewhere.

pdq67