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I give up ..... what's the secret

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krswen

krswen

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to removing the internals of the brake master cylinder? I've removed the snap ring but cannot get the piston and bearing/seal carrier to come out (10878 in the diagram). I've tried gripping the piston in soft jaws and yanking on the cylinder body to no avail. I don't see any other impediment to removal when I study the exploded views and cross-section in the shop manual.
The light blue bearing has two holes in it, and I can rotate it (although not easily) but it won't budge axially. I've searched in vain for some non-obvious pin I need to remove.
Suggestions?

Ken
 

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Here is how I do it: I put the end of the piston in a soft jaw vice. (I use soft aluminum with a cut out that surrounds the piston) Then I take a hard rubber hammer and knock the outer part of the cylinder away from the piston. I've done at least a hundred of these master cylinders this way with no problems. Most likely you will find the cylinder too pitted to rebuild but you might get lucky.
Alan T
 
Cover all but one line hole and blow it out with an air gun.
 
LarryK said:
Cover all but one line hole and blow it out with an air gun.
Click to expand...

But have a towel wrapped over the end -- if that sucker does come out it will try to launch into low earth orbit.

As a last resort a grease gun can be used on a zerk in the hole -- messy but effective.
 
Have had them clear the bench! Never thought to suggest to wrap end in towel too. Grease is good, been there done that. But, usually in a hurry and just used air. Thanks Geo!
 
Well, I got it apart by locking the piston in a set of plastic jaws in my big vise, resting a piece of 4x4 on the flange of the body and giving it a good whack with a 3 lb dead-blow hammer. Worked on the second try.
Oddly enough, parts 10878 and 10882 were installed in reverse order compared with the exploded view in the parts manual. The lip seal was installed in the proper direction to seal. The back of the lip seal had a light coat of RTV on it. Something the factory did in 1974, or has someone been into my master cylinder sometime in the last 40 years? The car only has about 10,000 miles on it.
I'll clean and examine the bores tomorrow, but a quick look suggests that they are OK (fingers crossed).

Ken
 
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