Honing wheel cylinders...

PeteVS

Well-known member
I have a pair of old rear wheel cylinders. They're in pretty good shape but there was some rust right in the center. I honed them out and got them all nicely cleaned up. Now, I'm wondering if there's a limit as to how big I can go. They're 1" x 1-1/8". I remember that they were importing cylinders a couple of years ago where the drilled hole from the tube fitting was breaking into the bore outside of where the lip of the cup sits and I don't want that.
 
Don't understand the question, if you don't want to use them because their cheap imports does the amount you can hone them matter? A hone removes very little material unless you are attempting to remove deep pits.
 
Replacement is your best bet. Many years ago when I worked for a Ford dealer, and new wheel and master cylinders were scarce, we routinely honed cylinders. In more cases than not, we couldn't get all the pits out, resulting in fluid leaks into the cylinder boots. Having the cylinders lined is usually considerably more costly than replacement if they are available.
 
The original wheel cylinders in my 1941 truck were so rusted and messed up after sitting 50 years I couldn't even get them apart. I sent them out to be resleeved with stainless steel sleeves. They came back good as new and work great. Very glad I kept the originals.
 
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