Brake bleed 101 question

[rc51kid]

Brake bleeding 101 question

I am going to be doing some caliper rebuilding and brake line swaps. I know the system will need a lot of bleeding afterwards. I have done it the old two person way before and that works fine. But you need friends for that. I also have a neat pressure bleeder that hooks up to a tire and uses that pressure to pressurize a reservoir of fluid and then forces that into your masters reservoir. But That contraption does not have a lid that fits on the LC.

Today i saw a video of someone using a few feet of clear vinyl tubing that presses onto the bleeder nipple. The free end is stuck in a bottle or container submerged under brake fluid. I guess this makes it a one way valve. The guy in the video just slowly pumped the pedal all by himself. Does this work? Is it really that simple to do by yourself?
Anyone know what size line to buy?

 

[maxamillion2345]

You're hoping you won't suck air through the threads.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

I usually am a one man shop doing everything by myself but when it comes to bleeding brakes I alway find a helper and doing it the old school way. My stepsons are getting pretty good at it. Having all diesels now it takes all three of us. One pumping the pedal, one relaying when to pump, stop, hold and me underneath telling out directions.

 

[Pin_Head]

In a high volume shop where they make money by the minute, they always use the 2 person method. Get a family member, friend, girl friend, hooker, stranger off the street, drinking buddy, alcoholic, ex-con, tweeker, terrorist, undocumented alien or small child and do it right once.

 

[SmokingRocks]

you dont need to have the engine running to pump the brakes @Mr Cimarron

 

[pandathrust]

The vinyl tube and bottle of brake fluid is how my brother and I have done it every time. It works well after pumping the brakes a bit to move the fluid through the system before starting to bleed. It takes a while, but is worth it in the end. We also have one of those fancy brake pump things to bleed the brakes, but we could never figure out how to use it so we just go back to the old method.

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

During my last brake ordeal I bought those check valve speed bleeders. I dunno if they helped but they have a waxy thread sealant on them that makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. First because it lowers the possibility of sucking air through the threads, and second because it lowers the possibility of a seized bleeder. I don't know if the fancy bleeder valves helped but i intend to get a tube of the same style of sealant before i attack brakes on some of my other vehicles. fwiw speedbleeder.com sells the sealant.

A friend who is a decent automotive technician recommended a 1-man bleeding method that actually worked really well.

Basically, you take the bottle from a vacuum bleeder (or rig up some other kind of in-line reservoir) and use wire or whatever to tie it to something that is above the caliper.

Then you open the bleeder valve and work the pedal - with the engine running if you want the brake booster helping - and when you are done pumping there is a column of brake fluid sitting on top of the bleeder valve so it is less likely to suck air.

This doesn't build as much pressure as the 2-man method but it was adequate for me. Once i replaced the brake booster that i damaged early in the process.

Recently I was helping another friend - a machinist by trade and old detroit iron enthusiast on his days off - bleed the brake lines on his el camino that has been going through a complete frame-off restoration -- thus completely dry brand new stainless brake hard lines. The engine cannot be started yet so no brake booster.

He had been unable to get the air pockets out so what he did was he found a piece of heavy plate steel, drilled a hole in it, mounted a tire stem in it, and cut some rubber to serve as a gasket. we used a big c-clamp to attach it to the master cylinder and used his air compressor to pressurize the reservoir(s). Worked great. Of course, on a 1968 el camino, the reservoir is cast iron with a milled top, which makes this method a lot easier.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

you dont need to have the engine running to pump the brakes @Mr Cimarron

Guess that's true but I have the habit of using the way I learned.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

In a high volume shop where they make money by the minute, they always use the 2 person method. Get a family member, friend, girl friend, hooker, stranger off the street, drinking buddy, alcoholic, ex-con, tweeker, terrorist, undocumented alien or small child and do it right once.

Lol! Epic! That is some funny sh@ pinhead, I needed a good laugh. Hooker lol!

On a serious note, the aforementioned bottle of brake fluid and clear tubing is what I have used for many years, the. I bought a newfangled vacuum gun with a brake bleeding setup and now I continue to use the bottle method.
Get a clean dry 20oz bottle and some vinyl tube that fits tightly around the bleeder of your caliper, drill a hole in the lid slightly smaller than the tubing, insert the tubing down to the bottom, fill the bottle with a few ounces of brake fluid, dont be cheap fill it a good inch and a half. I cut up and bend a metal coat hanger or some stuff wire to wrap around the neck and hang it from a wheel stud. Now you'll need a board or something to wedge the pedal down with once you have pumped it a few times. Done this dozens of times with different vehicles over the years. Just make sure you never have air sitting at the bleeder without the pedal down.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Oh, and on a side note. As mentioned there is always a possibility of sucking air passed the threads of the bleeder. Have recently been told by a guy who has been working on cars and building hot rods for 40 or so years that he didn't know why he couldn't get his daughters clutch to bleed and said it must have been a failing master or slave cylinder.... Told him he was probably sucking Air passed the threads, he replaced the parts with new parts and had the same issue so be careful of that one.

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS]

I've done it both ways many times and either way has worked fine for me. I always use about 6' for so of clear tubing and keep it elevated above the tire. Don't forget to bleed the LSPV as well.

 

[NLXTACY]

In a high volume shop where they make money by the minute, they always use the 2 person method. Get a family member, friend, girl friend, hooker, stranger off the street, drinking buddy, alcoholic, ex-con, tweeker, terrorist, undocumented alien or small child and do it right once.

You're in Georgia so you might get lucky to find all of these in one person, if not go one state over. Doesn't matter which way.

 

[Squash]

One man method.
Gravity bleed: Open reservior cap and fill with fresh fluid otherwise you can put a bottle upside down into reservior to ensure you do not bleed dry. Otherwise keep your reservior filled by observing time to time.
Go to furthest nipple and start the bleed.
This method is like a slow Sunday roast you can take your time. Repeat if not satisfied.

Also keeps you from messing up the master cylinder when people bottom out the brake pedal.

 

[Reelitchy]

You may want to bleed brakes first and replace all the fluid b4 the rebuild. If you have abs you may want to actuate that too first. After my brake fluid replacement I activated the abs and all that new fluid turned dark after that so I had to symphony it down and put clean new fluid back in

 

[Cove]

I've done the 2 man method twice on my 92 & recently on my 97. All 4 corners starting with the PS rear. Also bleeding the LSPV after each wheel as suggested here on mud. Overkill maybe but worked out perfectly every time.

 

[DSRTRDR]

You may want to bleed brakes first and replace all the fluid b4 the rebuild. If you have abs you may want to actuate that too first. After my brake fluid replacement I activated the abs and all that new fluid turned dark after that so I had to symphony it down and put clean new fluid back in

I would have liked to hear that music

 

[musthave]

Always cycle and bleed the ABS

 

[NLXTACY]

^ I think @musthave has learned the hard way

 

[IanB]

I've had the best results with the 2-man method as well. I bought a Motive power bleeder and tried using it on my 80, with the tank pressurized and everything ready to go, I cracked the 1st bleeder valve and nothing came out. Pulled that whole rig off the truck and went back to the 2-man method, and everything went smoothly.

 

[ppc]

I would have liked to hear that music

I would personally recommend an appropriate selection for the repair being the Trans-Siberian Orchestra "Nutcracker Suite" this time of year.