Master Cylinder Rebuild

[IXLR8]

OK! I give up.

I have the master cylinder out of the car.  How do I get to the innards to replace the seals?  I removed the circlip, and the locking bolt at the bottom of the cylinder, but the push rod does not come out.

It seems like it should be easy, but not to me. What am I missing?

Thanks,

Joe

[ja17]

Hello,

Parts get lodged.   Push the piston all the way down then allow it to "pop" back on its own. As the return spring pushes the piston out, everything else will follow.

[menesesjesse]

Where did you purchase the rebuild kit? Thanks
Jesse

[IXLR8]

Hi--

I haven't purchased the rebuild kit yet.

As I understand it, the bores on the master, slave and wheels cylinders are standard sizes. The wheel cylinder bores, for example, are 19.05 mm which translates into 3/4 inches. There are some really inexpensive rebuild kits for VW's which have the same diameter bores.  Check them out under classifieds, search for wheel or master cylinders, at the website www.thesamba.com.


Joe

[ja17]

Hello Joe,

The master cylinder seals are unique. I do not think you will find any wheel cylinder seals that will  fit these. The master cylinder re-build kits used to be quite common and inexpensive.

These days labor is the big cost, so most owners opt to buy the entire new master cylinder, it is not that expensive and the human error factor is taken out of the rebuild risk.  However, you would most likely find many foreign parts specialists (Beck Arnley or similar) still selling lots of rebuild kits.  These kits came with a complete instruction sheet.  I rebuilt hundreds of these  years ago before todays labor rates made the repair ecomnomically impractical.

[menesesjesse]

JA
Yes I looked high and low for a rebuild kit with no success.  I finally bought a rebuit ATE master cylinder from Car Quest for 130.00.   I do however have a spare one ready to be rebuilt.  Thanks for the info

[Benz Dr.]

I NEVER rebuild master cylinders. In my case it's called liability. A new one is the only way to go.

[IXLR8]

Hi--

An update.

I have looked high and low for a master cylinder rebuild kit.

Finally found one in Germany for 127 Euro, plus postage

At today's exchange rate, it is cheaper to simply replace the master cylinder. I found one at Autohaus AZ for $155.

Thanks to all for advice.

Joe