Slave cylinder differences?

[ifergusson]

About 3 yrs ago I replaced the slave cylinder in my 97 Sport with one of the mid priced ones from RockAuto. Recently it stopped working and when I pulled it out it seemed to have suffered some sort catastrophic failure where it appears to have gotten too hot and started to melt and then just fell apart.
I decided I didn't feel like replacing again anytime soon so this time I paid extra for a Wagner one.The Wagner slave cylinder looks identical to the one I pulled out.Every casting number is the same, both same made in Argentina on the bearing.The only difference i can see is the Wagner one has a rubber boot covering the spring.Are these just being made by one or two manufacturers now and sold under various brand names or did someone at the part store throw a cheaper one in the Wagner box?

 

[RangerX]

I can't speak on your exact question, but in the bigger picture, the general concensus us here is to only replace a slave with one from a Ford dealer. All other brands seem to fail within a year or two. given the work involved in changing the slave, it's worth the extra money the Ford part costs.