Them's the Brakes- I've Got Two Left Rear Cylinders

[Evan Wojtkiewicz]

I took my car in to a shop to inspect & get a quote for frame bushings, but one thing the mechanic noticed was that the both of the rear wheel cylinders are the left hand type units. That's right: the wheel cylinder a past mechanic put on the passenger side is the type meant for the driver side.

The wheel cylinders themselves look pretty symmetrical: other than the fitting for the brake hose being forwards instead of backwards, is there anything about this that would impact/change/affect brake operation?

The rear brake line was replaced by a different shop after the cylinder and they apparently didn't notice or care and formed the line to accommodate the incorrect wheel cylinder.

The shop that replaced these wheel cylinders is the same shop that ruined my control arms.

[Steve Passmore]

Wouldn't make any difference to performance except it wouldn't fit the pipes but if they have been altered as well it would just look weird.  Must have been difficult at the time though getting the steel pipes to fit at the front?

[Evan Wojtkiewicz]

Hey Steve. I guess it might have been more of a challenge, but I'm just surprised that they didn't mention it.

[savemy67]

Hello Evan,

The wheel cylinders themselves look pretty symmetrical: other than the fitting for the brake hose being forwards instead of backwards, is there anything about this that would impact/change/affect brake operation?

Your post mentions a brake hose at the rear wheel cylinders.  In '67, the rear wheel cylinders were connected directly to the rigid steel brake lines.  The reason for having a left and right cylinder is so that the rigid steel lines could be mounted behind the axle tube, and thus be protected from road debris.  If the passenger side wheel cylinder is a driver's side wheel cylinder with the fitting facing forward, it is unlikely that the stock rigid brake line could be correctly connected.

There is only one brake hose at the rear of a '67 rear-wheel drive Cadillac.  It allows the axle to move up and down.  If you have a rubber hose at the wheel cylinders, your brake lines have been substantially altered.  If you have a rigid line connected to the passenger side wheel cylinder, then either the original line was bent, or it was replaced with a longer line.  This may or may not affect your brakes, but considering the engineering that went into the original configuration, you may want to investigate further.

Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Winter

[Evan Wojtkiewicz]

Hey Christopher,

Sorry, I misspoke. I meant to say line, not hose. I wrote that rather quickly on my lunch break today.

[Philippe M. Ruel]

No reason for it not to work properly.

If it was made for economy reasons (some past owner foolishly picking brake parts in junkyards) I would check all brake shoes. I don't know specifically '67 models, but each drum usually has a front and a rear shoe, lining length being the difference. Switching them, or having two "front" or two "rear" on one drum, will affect braking effectiveness.