Wheel cylinders

[bison]

Morning Gents,
Just had a phone call from my pal Dave who has Lulu a 1976 TL. The front wheel cylinders were siezed so he thought he would replace them, problem is every cylinder he gets is too long, even though the part number is correct, I think he's ordering the cylinder for the 228mm brake drum, but we can't source the shorter cylinder for the 200mm drum, the part numbers seem to be the same, but the parts are certainly not. The pistons and seals are not the same either, large cylinder has seals with a centre hole to push the seal on to the piston, old (correct) cylinder has a cup type seal. Any ideas?, even a repair kit would do the job.
Thanks,
Alan.

 

[Steve Hennessey]

The post 1967 models used a 200mm front drum apart from the R2105 and R2106 which used larger drums.
The cylinders for the 200mm drum are Quinton Hazel BWC 3165 and BWC 3166 and these have a bore of 23.8mm. They are available from a QH dealer. I obtained a pair of these for a lady in Zimbabwe for her 1976TL and they fitted a treat.
From memory I remember reading that Renault did change the size of the cylinders but all will fit the back plate and operate as normal. Not sure what you're friend has bought so it would be useful to have any part numbers to see if they can be cross referenced.

Steve

 

[bison]

Numbers

Thanks Steve, I'll ask Dave to reply to this as he has all the numbers to hand.
Alan.

 

[angel]

Wheel cylinders fitted from 1962 to around 1980 were 23,8mm diameter, 60mm length (cylinder casting only).
From 1981 onwards if I am correct they made the casting longer (72mm) without altering the bore diameter. There must also be some 66mm length castings too but I have never seen them.
The same wheel cylinders have been fitted to both 200 and 228 mm drums.
Renault state clearly that all wheel cylinder types are 100% interchangeable, and there is no problem even if you have one short and one long wheel cylinder. So bison, there is no need to worry.

 

[bison]

Wheel Cylinder

Hi Folks,
Thanks for all the info.
Saw Dave last night, turns out his problem was not the wrong wheel cylinder but a blocked Master cylinder, when all the fluid had escaped from the open pipe dirt had blocked the orifice, a really good pump on the pedal and it cleared. He thought the solid pedal was caused by the piston in the wheel cylinder blocking the inlet hole.
Thanks again for all the info.
Alan.