Gentlemen, I am in the same boat, having ordered a master cylinder from one of our reputable vendors many months ago. When I received the new master cylinder, I just set it aside, waiting till I was ready to install it. I am still not ready to install it, but after this topic came up, I went back and looked at what I received and found that I had received a new master cylinder without a sleeve and a new pushrod which was shipped loose. When I looked at a couple of old master cylinders that I picked up over the years, they were sleeved! Since the sleeve is supposedly very difficult to remove, I too would be very interested in how to resolve this problem! Any additional information that could lead to solving this problem would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Bill