Brake bleed

[Kaiser2boy]

OK, replaced the rear axle seals and brakes on all 4 wheels and rebuilt all 4 wheel cylinders. Now for the life of me I cant seem to get a good brake pedal. One problemn is I am a one man band so bleeding the brakes is a bit of a chore. I lay a large concrete block on the brake pedal and then go open the bleeders and in between I refill the M.C with fluid.

There is no leakage but it seems there is air in the line some place because the brake is real spongy. If I slowly operate the brake with the filler cap off I see tiny bubbles keep coming up. I did that until I was blue in the face . And Oh yes the MC was replaced and is new about a year ago.
Anyone have any good ideas on how one person by themself can bleed brakes?

[Tom Petroff]

Small jar or can of fluid. small hose slipped tightly over bleeder nipple,other end in the submerged fluid in the can (less than half full)
Trick is keep open end of hose submerged in brake fluid.
Don't take much.

Open bleeder and pump.
It's not perfect but will work.
Or use your block on the pedal and open bleeder until block is down and close repeat.
I think that method is what your doing now.
It's hard to bleed brakes with one person unless you have a bleeder.
TGP

[Gordon Maney]

"If I slowly operate the brake with the filler cap off I see tiny bubbles keep coming up. I did that until I was blue in the face."

If you did that until you were blue in the face, do it some more until you turn yet another color.

Seriously, do that some more. You are making progress. There is a process called bench bleeding, you bleed the master cylinder before you put it on the truck.

You can't find anybody to pump the pedal? A 10-year-old kid? Anybody?

There are also vacuum pumps that are hand-operated and tolerant of brake fluid. You bleed from the bleeder end. You have to be careful about vacuum leaks around the bleeder threads.

http://www.amazon.com/Actron-CP7835-.../dp/B0007VT4RC


http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...er=988888_0_0_

[oldmopar]

A few thoughts some times with a complete brake replace it takes a while to get the air out so usually need to go around a few times. Not sure why but if using silicone (dot 5) it takes a few extra trips to get the air out.
Does the truck have a booster under the floor if so it also needs to be bled. Finally when I can not get the air out I usually have a slight leak so recheck all connections especially brake lines and hoses and any couplings in the line

[Kaiser2boy]

I tried the vacuum system but it was drawing air around the hose conection and around the threads of the bleeder.

I tried the can with fluid in it but it seemed the stroke of the pedal did not provide enough flow of fluid to reach the can so it sucked back up any air expeled.

Then I broke down and told my wife if she helped me I would take her out for dinner any place she wanted. You have to understand that my wife sees the old Dodge as ,,"the other woman " so she is a bit reluctant to be nice to it. But I knew she could not resist a night out. So every one is happy now, brakes work great, Im happy , wifes happy all is well with the world.

[Kaiser2boy]

PS.

I noticed that when I took the axles out who ever was in there last made a mistake upon installing them. It seems they for some reason either screwed in the extractor bolts too far or wrenched them down while installing the axles. I could see indentations where the extractor bolts were smashed into the hub. Anyone doing that job should leave those bolts out untill last and then just turn them in until they just touch and then lock the locking nut. One was turned in enough that it kept the cap from seating properly and caused seepage the other was peened over from pressure.

[wayneh]

I bled my brakes several time and they were mushy until I bench bled the master cylinder like the instructions said... They were fine after that. Also, motive products makes a pressure bleeder. It is a one man show now. I copied a pressure cap from Doc L that screws onto ours and it works like a champ.

Wayne

[Matthew Ziegler]

brake bleeders

Speedway motors sells a one man brake bleeding setup as well as 4 or 5 other varieties, I borrowed a mighty vac, setup from a friend, small aluminum hand held vacuum pump you connect to the bleeder screws, after several hours I still hadn't gotten the air out. I gravity bled them, open your fill on the master and slightly open all four bleeders, fill the master up and walk away. After an hour or two come back and close all the bleeders, top off the master and check your pedal. I'm running dot 5 so I did have to bleed them again a week or so later, I did that with the help of a buddy the conventional way.

[Kaiser2boy]

The master cylinder on my truck has a vent pipe and I tried a make shift pressure bleeder but it pushed fluid up the vent into the carburetor.
The vacuum sytle sort of worked but it was hard to tell just what was going on since it sucked in air around the threads of the bleeder so I could not tell it the air was from the line or just seepage.

Letting it sit over night to let all the tiny bubbles form up to one big bubble worked the best and Oh yes I pressed my wife into service with instructions to NOT pump the pedal fast, only slowly so as not to cause millions of tiny bubbles. Brakes are now just fine. Well as fine as any on an M37. The brake shoes should be wider but thats what they make so...Its like the Vacuum wipers ,,thats how they work.

[thehoov!]

wheel cylinders installed upside down?

Bleeders need to be on the top. Made the mistake once before.

[Gordon Maney]

Bleeders need to be on the top. Made the mistake once before.

Was that on a front wheel?

[Kaiser2boy]

Hmm, upside down, seems almost impossible with the way the bolts are offset. But no , the bleeds are right side up.

I did get it done it just took a few go arounds and a helper. Letting it sit over night so all the little bubbles join up into one big one helped also. Slow pumping avoids the million tiny bubbles

[Gordon Maney]

Hmm, upside down, seems almost impossible with the way the bolts are offset.

You are correct — I am reminded of that by looking at a photo.

To be fair, if we generalize to all makes and models, there are situations where that is possible — With wheel cylinders turned upside down, and disc brake calipers swapped side to side [left to right].

[Kaiser2boy]

You are so right. After 60 years of God knows who doing who knows what to any truck anything is possible.

I was lucky that my M was all intact except for the electrical wiring to the lights and some lash up 12 volt stuff lashed up to one battery that caused a bit of doing to get right.

But a standard truck with standard parts it would be hard to get a wheel cylinder in upside down.