I have a home made pushrod connecting my brake master cylinder. It has been there for over 10 years, with over half of that being as a daily drive. The original bent when an attempt at a steep offroad track failed and we needed lots of brakes in reverse. I suspect that my replacement is stronger than the original. You could even get a grade 12 socket head bolt if you wanted it even stronger than grade 8. Remember that metric class 8.8 is roughly equivalent to imperial grade 5.
Aaron

