Wheel Cylinders

[NYMINUTE]

Any PM ideas to reduce or eliminate brake cylinder (wheel) seize up? Have a Trailmaster single axle with a Rinker 212 on board. Had a grease seal blow off on the Starboard side. After a bearing replacement (at the ramp) got it home and while adjusting the brakes I discovered the port side brakes were not working (cylinder seized) Quite sure the seal was a overgrease issue on my part, the rest is a mystery.

 

[jlshields]

Re: Wheel Cylinders

Had the same thing happen to 3 wheels on my trailer. I disassembled the wheel cylinders, honed them and when I reassembled I coated everything with silicone grease including the groove around the cylinder and the inside of the boot. Then I put a tiewrap around the boot to hold it tight in the wheel cylinder groove. I used one long enough to go around twice. That was 3 years ago and no problems.

 

[Lou C]

Re: Wheel Cylinders

The aluminum wheel cylinders are supposed to resist corrosion better than the cast iron, but I am not sure if that is really true. I just put on a set of Tie Down Galvax drums with the alu cylinders, we'll see how well they hold up. If I have to replace them I'll try the above fix!!

 

[CTD]

Re: Wheel Cylinders

I wonder is using dot 5 fluid would help.(silicone)

 

[NYMINUTE]

Re: Wheel Cylinders

Thanks all, I did coat the cylinder with a film of white lithium when completed, and cleaned the other side, and coated as well. I like the strapping idea, could be an inexpensive PM. I've simply got to move closer to Lake Michigan!!!!

 

[starrider_68]

Re: Wheel Cylinders

btw... dot 5 brake fluid is for extrem temp applications like racing carbon fiber brakes or that new corvette. the best brake fluid for trailers is dot 3. dot 5 wants to soak up more moisture than dot 3 and it wont "lubricate the internal seals" of the wheel cylnders. also the rubber in the wheel cylnders wont react too well with dot 5 fluid unless it was designed by the manufacture for dot 5. there shoul;d be a sticker or plate that says "use dot 5 brake fluid only".<br />If this isnt on there then I reccomend that you stick with dot 3.

 

[CTD]

Re: Wheel Cylinders

actually FWIW the post office used dot 5 on all vehicles until just recently without any problems. Wheel cylinders did not rust, didn't have a water problem. they put stickers on them because you can't add regular fluid to dot 5. You can buy silicone assembly fluid for wheel cylinders and mastter cylinders that will work better than lithium grease. I think the lithium grease will cause the seals to swell. At any rate I wouldn't put anything in there that wasn't designed for brake use.

 

[Lou C]

Re: Wheel Cylinders

If you want to use grease to help seal the rubber piston seals, Permatex makes a synthetic grease that is for disc brakes that will not harm rubber, that is probably OK to use for that purpose.