Thread: quick master cylinder question

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I have seen diagrams where the brake line going to the rear is connected to the front of the master cylinder and the line going to the front is connected to the rear of the master cylinder and i've seen it the other way around also. does it matter?

Some master cylinders are set up for discs on the front and drums on the back, so in that case I think you need to hook it up in the correct ports. But on ones that are set up for drums, and if you are using drums, I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. It could be that certain master cylinders have different sized bores too.

On my T I ran the master cylinder facing the opposite direction, and simply hooked up the lines so they ran conveniently, without regard to front or back, and it seems to work fine.

Don

Generally it is front chamber to rear brakes and rear to front.

If there is a bigger inside reservoir, then that one is to the front brakes due to the usual 60/40 (or whatever) brake bias, front vs rear. The thought was that you need more fluid for the front to maintain that difference. In a real world, I doubt that it really makes a difference

The larger reservoir for discs has nothing to do with brake bias or stopping force required. Disc brakes require more volume than drums, and as the brake linings wear the pistons are pushed out of the calipers farther and farther so more fluid is required. Next time you need to change front pads check the fluid level in the master before you squeeze the piston back into the caliper, it gets pretty low

Originally Posted by ceh383

The larger reservoir for discs has nothing to do with brake bias or stopping force required. Disc brakes require more volume than drums, and as the brake linings wear the pistons are pushed out of the calipers farther and farther so more fluid is required. Next time you need to change front pads check the fluid level in the master before you squeeze the piston back into the caliper, it gets pretty low

I think that's really what I said!!
Bias = the fact that there is additional wear on the front DUE to that difference in braking effort = the additional reservoir capacity needed to keep that fluid chamber and lines full. This is true regardless of whether you have drum or disk brakes

Generally, the bigger chamber is for the fronts.... Must take a bit more volume to make discs work then drums???? When I use dual master cylinders and a balance bar I use the same size reservoirs.... Maybe a safety thing or something the factory built into them?????

most late master cyls have built in resudial valves so it does mater a drum drum mc has difrent valving than disc drum so find out what you have thats my 2 cents ted