LB75B Brake Master Cylinders Leaking

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Thanks for posting Jim. Always nice to see a documented repair. It just pains me to see such simple brake master cylinders cost so much. Also wonder if modern synthetic brake fluid would be superior? Brake cylinders are such simple devices. If they get water in them, they will rust and if the rust is so bad, it will create pits in the bore that the rubber seals can't seal and then they will leak. As they heat and cool with the machine, they can pull water out of contaminated fluid. It is imperative to have good brake fluid to keep the system water free. It is also a good idea to bleed brake systems every few years to put in fresh fluid from an unopen container.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Jim, I work with a young man who worked at a large NAPA while in college. He is the type who is a wiz at crossover and can scour catalogs trying to find a suitable replacement. I always run things past him for advice before I spend any money on my vehicles.

He helped me get a belt for my JD 350 sickle bar cutter. JD wanted $75 and NAPA was something like $47, but his former co-worker sold it too me for $28.

 

[jinman]

Kyle, had I noticed these cylinders were Bosch, I might have checked around and found rebuild kits, but I'd bet that the full kits would have been $100 each and maybe not included the rubber boots and proper pedal hookups. My rubber boots were gone too. If I spent over $100 per cylinder on rebuild kits, I still have to remove the cylinders and also maybe hone the bores. In the end, I'd have lots of time and parts involved in a repair with no guarantees the parts will work. $305 per cylinder is a bunch, but the repair was a breeze. If I had to pay for 2-way transportation, labor, and parts this would have been a very expensive repair, maybe close to $1000. So buying the new parts seemed to make sense to me for ease and overall cost. I sure can't complain about shipment time on the parts either. I ordered them on Wednesday afternoon and they were at the dealer by Friday morning. Everything bolted up and fit perfectly with no anxiety. That's worth a bunch.

Oh yes, the mineral oil brake fluid is $8.71 per quart. I've found other sources, but none cheaper than my NH dealer. Some foreign auto dealers want over $25 per quart. Yikes!