Bleeding Brakes

I made a device. It basically was a large plastic bottle with two hoses. One hose had a long brass tube that went to the bottom of the bottle, while the other end of the hose went to a cap to fit on top of the fluid reservoir, the other had a schraeder valve so I could pump some air into the large bottle.

I'd fill the large bottle half way with brake fluid, pump it up to pressurize the system, then go bleed the brakes. The extra fluid in the large bottle insured I didn't just force air into the system. Worked pretty well although I have no idea where the device is today. Hmmm.

It does help if you use a nice long tube on the bleeding screws so the air bubbles can work their way out while the pressure is somewhat maintained and you can see them working their way out.

Check out

Ken ken dot peterson at cox dot net

Hi TC. Do a google search on the TULZ Series. You want part 5. Probably should read them all. Cheap Education.

Joel Bartlett

When you have no helper, a power bleeder is the way to go - provided everything else in the system was done right. You might be able to rent one locally.

Thanks guys,

I guess I'll build one. I'll probably finish up about the time the kids get home from school.

In spite of what all the "experts" tell you, bleeding solo is no problem at all. All you need is a plastic hose that is long enough to slip onto the bleed valve, loop up a bit, and then drop down to the bottom of your catch jar.

Bleed by opening the bleed valve and then pumping. Check the reservoir occasionally to make sure that you don't suck it dry. If it goes dry you're starting over.

There is no need to close the bleed valve before you let the pedal up. You can pump slowly or quickly, but vigourous pumping will remove more dirt from the system.

If your MC is bad, it may suck air on the upstroke and prevent you from ever gettin the system bled completely. This is NOT a bleeding technique problem; it is a MC problem.

It sounds like you have already pumped enough fluid thru your system. I'd be concerned that you still have some kind of problem. Unless there are leaks that you can see when you hold the pedal down hard then I suspect a problem, or just brake shoes that need to be adjusted.

----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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I got it. I wound up going to work so I never got around to building a power bleeder.

Remember, I changed both front calipers and all 4 flexible hoses so I had a lot of bleeding to do. And the first go at it I didn't try to reclaim the fluid as I wanted to flush the lines as best I could.

We got it done late yesterday and even took the buggy for a sunset ride. So nice to be riding again.

I didn't get those old cylinders shipped to you yet but I'll box them up sometime over the weekend. Thanks for all your help.

Okay, a pressure bleeder is appealing, but it really is more work than it's worth for most of us.

With a completely clean/dry system, I can often just open the bleed valves and fill the reservoir. Given a little time, gravity will do all the work for you. Most of the time, however, when the systems are dirty, I prefer to pump, just to stir up as much settled crud as possible and get it out of there.

Thanks. I'll promise to put them to good use, and to let you know what kind of shape they were in.

----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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