Any experiance using RockAuto Brake slave & master Cylinders

[leop]

Has anyone tried using the brake cylinders or master cylinders offered by Rock Auto on their M37?

I would love to purchase made in the USA parts from Mid West, but money is a factor right now. I am therefore looking at alternatives such as the ones advertised on RockAuto.com.

Has anyone used RockAuto's brand of wheel cylinders on their truck and if so what were your experiences - both and good or bad? Does anyone have any other low cost alternatives they would like to suggest? Do people still re-sleeve?

Leo

[leop]

Do I understand correctly that no one of the 30 that have looked at the post has used anything but the NOS brake slave cylinders that MWM sells. No one? No one at all?

There must be someone out there that has used something else? Napa? had them re-sleeved? Anything?

[w30bob]

Hi Leop,

Don't fret.....it was just me reading your post 29 times. Ok...just kidding. Truth is there are a lot of lurkers on this forum who for whatever reason don't like to chime in.....they just like to read the posts. Certainly nothing wrong with that. My point is that the regulars sometimes don't check the forum as ofter as you'd think..........and with it being Springtime many folks are busy. I guarantee you'll start getting responses in a little bit.

Although I can't answer your question directly, I use RockAuto for most of my auto parts buys and have never had a bad experience with them. Returns are hassle free and they seem to stand behind their products. Of course this is probably the point where someone will post that they hate RockAuto and would never order from them again.

regards,
bob

[Brett]

I got mine from AB linn off of eBay. They are the new star brand. Got my shoes and hoses from him as well. Look for parts displayed on the old wooden chair.

I've also bought a lot of parts from rock auto, and had good luck with them. The only exception to this is I have gotten bad oxygen sensors from them on two orders. One was the wrong sensor in the box, and the other was a old sensor someone apparently returned. They tried to make it right on both orders.

Brett

[DJ]

What is the price difference? I got mine from MWM.

[jimmy_stikx]

Which one are you ordering from them?

[T. Highway]

Leo,

I have bought from Rock Auto with mixed results. I have since then gone back to dealing with my local NAPA store, please keep in mind that they also carry the cheaper discount priced parts for customers that only shop by price. I normally will pick the premium brands and you can see the difference when you can look at them side by side.

I also make every attempt to not buy cheap offshore parts, it is a challenge. There are a few good offshore suppliers but allot more fly by night parts builders.

Bert

[leop]

Hi everyone,
First off thank you for offering your time and help!

Costs are as follows, using M37 wheel cylinders as an example:

RockAuto
Centric Standard = $14.01
Centric Premium = $17.54
Raybestos = $44.79

MWM
(no vendor info except “US Mfg”) $39.00

Erics Military & Surplus
(No vendor info) = $30.00

Midwest Jeep Willys
(No vendor info) = $29.95

Ebay – 100% positive feedback vendor
(no vendor info) = all four $119.95 which = $29.98 each

Boyce Equipment
(No vendor info) = $37.50

Army Surplus Warehouse
(No vendor Info except “usa made”) =$ 44.95

Memphis Equipment Company
(No vendor info) = $36.23

NAPA
NAPA Ultra Premium Brake Parts = 42.99

Here are my thoughts based on 25 years work as a: Mechanical engineer (shock absorber design) Automotive Aftermarket Marketing Manager, Automotive Parts Failure Analysis Engineer:

[*]
The old rule that “You get what you pay for” is no longer universally true. Quality and price are based on lots of factors including: Purchasing power for raw materials, attitude of the Q&A department, quality of the engineering staff, cost of borrowing money, export/import/tariff rules, natural disasters, political issues, contract negotiation skills, ….. and on and on and on. There is every possibility that a $14 dollar cylinder from Centric is as good as or better than a $43 cylinder from NAPA. In fact there is the very real possibility that NAPA purchased their cylinders from Centric and that the two products are EXACTLY the same.

I am not rich. Nevertheless, my purchasing decisions need to be based on more than just cost and quality because I (as do we all) need these companies to survive if for no other selfish reason than to have access to all the non mainstream parts they carry. Many of these companies survive by taking a higher margin on parts that move more often – such as wheel cylinders.

It benefits all Americans to purchase products built in America when such products are available and we can afford them.

If you don’t have the time or money to purchase and test all of the above products, the next best thing is to collect real live feedback from people who have purchased and used these products. Hence my post on this forum.
[/*]

So what do you all think? Have any of the above products worked well or horrible for you?

[leop]

Leo,

I have bought from Rock Auto with mixed results. I have since then gone back to dealing with my local NAPA store, please keep in mind that they also carry the cheaper discount priced parts for customers that only shop by price. I normally will pick the premium brands and you can see the difference when you can look at them side by side.

I also make every attempt to not buy cheap offshore parts, it is a challenge. There are a few good offshore suppliers but allot more fly by night parts builders.

Bert

Bert great info. I plan to go to NAPA today and take a look at what they have. I hope they can show me side by side, as that would be very helpfull!

[jimmy_stikx]

The NAPA out here wasn't able to order the listed w/c. I ended up ordering the Raybestos one from rockauto.

[leop]

The NAPA out here wasn't able to order the listed w/c. I ended up ordering the Raybestos one from rockauto.

What did you think of them? Are they doing ok so far? do you drive the truck very often?

Leo

[jimmy_stikx]

I should be getting it in today. I haven't been able to drive the truck muck do to a complete lack of brakes. I also learned the hard way that the parking brake for these is not a good way to stop either, but with the lockouts off and the front engaged, she coasts pretty well to a stop.

I will say this though, I've used raybestos brake parts on other cars and such, good products, well made. Centric may be good, but I haven't looked them up at all and don't want to be the guy testing them on a vehicle that by today's standards is marginally safe at best.

[leop]

I should be getting it in today. I haven't been able to drive the truck muck do to a complete lack of brakes. I also learned the hard way that the parking brake for these is not a good way to stop either, but with the lockouts off and the front engaged, she coasts pretty well to a stop.

I will say this though, I've used Raybestos brake parts on other cars and such, good products, well made. Centric may be good, but I haven't looked them up at all and don't want to be the guy testing them on a vehicle that by today's standards is marginally safe at best.

I have been driving my truck using just the parking brake for years, so I know exactly what you mean Jimmy!! It was only the birth of my first son that has me looking to fix the regular juice brakes.

Can you let me know what The NAPA or Raybestos part numbers were? Or did you get them from the list I occasionally find here on this board?

[jimmy_stikx]

I have been driving my truck using just the parking brake for years, so I know exactly what you mean Jimmy!! It was only the birth of my first son that has me looking to fix the regular juice brakes.

Can you let me know what The NAPA or Raybestos part numbers were? Or did you get them from the list I occasionally find here on this board?

Nice, my only experience with using the parking brake on mine resulted in a slip yoke flange turning into pieces of shrapnel. >_>

When I get done bicycling my fat butt from base I'll post the part number if it's the right one.

You might need new flex lines and suck as well if the actual brakes haven't worked in a while.

[jimmy_stikx]

1. The Mojave is hot.

2. Mr. Fedex came early.

The wheel cylinder looks like the ones that are on my '53, minus the puked dot3 all over it from the one it's replacing. Raybestos WC3595 is on the box. More to come after this weekend of eventually successful brake work. If everything works out, I'll also link to the M/C I have from Speedway Motors.