Anyone used Harbor Freight's vaccuum brake bleeder kit?

I see this kit in the stores for about $30-$35 with a hand vaccuum pump and hoses and so forth, never looked at it super close, but now I have an O/T car I need to bleed after a line change (78" of new line) and I'm wondering if this will do the job?

This particular vehicle has a trip in the proportioning valve that clicks over if it senses low pressure in a line, which to reset you have to open a line at the master cylinder to balance the system back out, it's a real pain in the ass. The prop valve is buried where I can't even see it, let alone try and find if it has a way to reset it on it. Either way, I've tried to pedal bleed this one before and it's not worth the trouble.


Let's not start another Harbor Freight made in China junk thread - I know it's not going to last forever or be perfect - just want to be able to get this damned car out of my driveway, and if it works great the once a year or so I need it, great. If it's total crap, the muffler shop down the road will do it for like $20 (unless the price has gone up since the last time I needed this done). I know some of their stuff is crap, I'm on my third $5 pop riveter and I don't think any of them has lasted more than 40 or 50 rivets before the jaws stop gripping the pin.


http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=brake+bleeder&Submit=Go

Looks like the stores carry only the most expensive and maybe the super-cheapo of these four. I don't remember seeing any of the others, or I probably would have bought one already. And that super cheap $4.99 one-man deal is great if you want to use yourself as the source of vaccuum; personally I don't care for the taste of brake fluid.

 

Went the vaccum bleeder route one time and found it didn't work out for me. (seemed to suck too much air thru the bleeders). Did my self a favor and replaced the original bleeders with speed bleeders. They work great and allow one man bleeding.

 

Ive used a vacula. That hand pump is gonna take all day. You could try not to pump it to the floor. Take baby strokes when the bleeder is open. I do it all the time at work.

 

Did they work on your Mercury? I bought one of those Mighty Vac kits and as well had poor results on a shoebox or Merc. Then I broke the cup by accident, everything went wrong really...

Ive always wondered if those bleeders work, I'm forever waiting for a friend or my girlfriend to respond to my "up" and "down".

 

It's gotta have some suction to get it started, too much air in it right now.


I could probably gravity bleed it if I had to, I managed to succeed in getting that done before only to have it turn out the pistons were out too far in the wheel cylinders and it was sucking air in that way. So it would basically suck bubbles for hours if you let it flow.



I suppose I could go out to the junkyard, I have to go there anyways, and get another top for the master while I'm at it. Then drill a hole and put a tire valve in it, and put a little air pressure to the valve with a compressor for a lot less money. That would be more or less the same thing as pressure bleeding it in a shop. Then just run a tube into something off the bleeder and run it until the air's out.

 

I dislike the vacumm bleeders mine sits unused now. I would rather have my wife help me and that is bat for both of us then the vacumm bleeders. ED

 

No experience with the HF bleeder but I have had very good luck with a home made pressure bleeder. 15 psi is enough. Your tire valve idea should get you there but you'll have to be really careful to keep it topped off.

 

I vaguely remember someone telling you could make your own pressure bleeder more or less the same way, except you used a piece of steel plate and a piece of rubber sheet and clamped it on, so you could use it on any master cylinder. Same deal, have to watch to keep it topped off. But 15 PSI is low enough you can stop and start again a couple times I think and it's no big deal.

When I needed to bleed the fuel system in my diesel Suburban I did more or less the same thing, put a tire valve into an old gas cap and pressurized it that way, I just happened to think of it. Must be getting old or something, I should have thought of that sooner.

 

I second the speed bleeders, they really cut down on time/frustration and if you have any issues on the road in the middle of nowhere, they are very convenient.

I also saw this on Gearz TV http://www.phoenixsystem.com/products_by_type/brake_bleeders/maxpro_brake_bleeder.htm Expensive but looks like better quality than the Might Vac (which I tried and threw on my garage floor as hard as I could when I was 'done' with it.

 

What the man said. Foolproof, one man operation.

 

spend your money on the speed bleeders, don't waste it on the vaccum bleeder.....

 

I bought the metal one HF brand one and it worked for about an hour and stopped working... Then I got the plastic Mighty Vac brand one they had, and it worked pretty good.

 

Sounds like some one has a 3rd gen f-body.
I reinvented bleeding brakes on this POS!
1- disconect master, take to bench, fill with fluid , let gravity bleed while working on car.
2- remove bleeder screws, put small amount of non harding plumbers paste on THREAD only, reintall all snugly
3- loacte a length of surgical tubing that fits the bleeders.
4 install a length that will reach ground at rr wheel,
5 insert open end of tubing into full quart of DOT fluid
6 install Vac U Jac on appropriate master line,
7 start pumping till you see clear fluid,
repeat at other 3 wheels.
8 finish traditional bench bleed of master, install, lightly pump pedal a few times to seat calipers and such.
9 DONE!
I found trying to pump or suck air DOWN stream unproductive on most brake sysytets that have gone metric, dont know why, just know what worked for me.
and the prop valve on this zhitter could only be set thru disassembly.
special note, I used an HVAC vac pump with a liquid catch jar, not a MR. Handy

 

Mine workers great.got it from eastwood more than 10 years ago.

 

Maybe stupid, but what's a speed bleeder?

 

I use this....sometimes they are on sale for 99 cents. Works great,just make sure the little jar is above the wheel cylinder level and try not to overfill it all over the floor as you are pumping!
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=37201

 

If your solo, they work great. Mine does. Makes it a good one-man-job.

 

Here is a homemade motive power bleeder knock off. Been meaning to make one cause it seems like a great idea.

http://www.bmw-m.net/TechProc/bleeder.htm

 

Hey I used a pump sprayer small one from home cheapo and used the plate n rubber gasket system connected to the hose from sprayer, put about 1/2 gal in it pumped it up n bled brakes at each wheel worked good n when I was done threw it away only out about $8.00 for it and you can control the pressure
just my 2 cents worth for a troublesome bleed job

 

Replace you stock bleeders with these. Brake bleeding made easy with a one man operation. They wont suck air with the check ball.

 

OK, here's the deal with vacuum bleeding from a guy that's done it for a decade.

The hand pump systems actually work the best because the vacuum is lower and slower. If you have mechanical assistance the vacuum level goes too high, then you start pulling air from either the bleeder threads or the caliper O-ring. Some cars like C3 vettes are virtually unbleedable with vacuum because of sh*tty seal designs for the caliper. I'm gonna say vacuum bleeding causes you to move 3X as much fluid as manual bleeding to actually get the air out. And 1 out of 5 cars will refuse to fully vacuum bleed, and make you do a round of normal bleeding as followup.

Personally, next time there's a few extra cents to rub together, I'm buying a pressure bleeder.

Those speed bleeder checkvalve dealies are great unless you own 8 cars and work on another 12 for friends & family.

However the large air powered mityvacs are awesome for extracting fluids like transmission or PS and are worth every penny for that alone.

good luck

 

Mighty-Vac? Isn't that some sort of male enhancement device?

 

Cool Thanks ....

 

They worked great on the Merc. Simple one man operation. Crack the bleeder open, attach 1/4" plastic tube and into something like an old plastic salad dressing bottle thats conveniently hung. Depress brake pedal a number of times until you have one or two ounces in the bottle. Tighten bleeder.

 

i have a mighty vac, i dont use it, i just seems to suck air in past the threads of the bleed screw, i also have used the check valve bleed screws and they worked once, then a year later i needed to bleed my brakes again and the check balls were stuck, i tried drilling out the check balls but there to hard and i ended up buying just regular bleed screws, i now have the parts to make a pressure bleeder, i just need to make a cover for the master and a cover for the bottle i'm useing for the brake fluid.

 

The speed bleeders look like a good idea, but this vehicle still needs a vaccuum or air source to bleed because of the prop valve. It's a safety feature, it's designed to trip if it senses low pressure in one of the lines. Of course it was dumping a ton of fluid when I found the leak - a line I'd put on three years ago, that I'd changed twice because of a leak that turned out to be a loose connection at the one union that was behind a crossmember, rusted out near the hose connection. Thanks, New York, for the road salt.


I'll go up there in a bit and see how the thing works, if it can be used to air up the master from the top with a little precision I may get it anyways, if not I'll get a hold of some tube and do the tire valve deal. Will just have to run it a bit, stop, add fluid, run some more, a pain but easier than dicking with that prop valve.

 

Is it possible that it is the pressure differential switch and not the proportioning valve?

 

Speed bleeders cost all of $11 a pair from jegs and you can even find them in the help section of autozone.

All I use to bleed my brakes is a plastic tube and a coffee can. Best money I ever spent.

EDIT: I just realized I didn't answer your question at all. I've stared at that HF bleeder and wondered myself if it was any good. I'll take a look at the garage journal and if I turn up anything I'll report back!

 

Whole thing is one unit, lines from the master go there, then one to each front and one line to the back.

 

If the vehicle has a high mounted master cylinder on the firewall then gravity bleeding one wheel at a time works for me.I never was able to get a good pedal feel with a Mighty Vac system.I also have a pump type pressure that works ok but seems to waste more brake fluid than gravity bleeding.