I've heard of guys making them out of garden sprayers... anyone have a link? Has anyone made one? I've used the commercial ones... but figured there was an easy way to do it. Give me your ideas... then I'll make one and post the tech on how I made it and how it works. Sam.
I usually crack all four bleeders and re tighten till ALMOST shut....insert a length of rubber hose appropriate size to fit tightly onto each bleeder...place each hose in a container with end of hose in fluid.fill master and pump till empty -refill and leave it sit overnite....[WITH OPEN BLEEDERS]-come back next day and tighten bleeders-do your normal blead with one person pumping and other opening bleeders and your'e good to go. Even worked on mine where master is lower than wheel cylinders.....
I just thunk this up.... Take an extra M/C lid and weld an inch or so of header tubing on top, air tight over the vent hole or drill a hole in the cap inside the tube. Then take the inner tube out of your least favorite son's bicycle and cut it in half and tie a knot in one end of the tube and radiator hose clamp the other end nto the header tube on the lid put the rubber diaphram back in and put it on the full M/C and inflate the tube a couple or three inches in diameter of about 4 psi. Then go bleed the furthest brake from the M/C and the rest. check the M/C for running out, but the diaphram should keep it from running completely dry. Whatcha think?
I took a large jar (preferably of a non-shatering material) with a good heavy lid. I added an air inlet. You can use a tire stem. I then made a hole for a male/male hose connection through the lid. I put a length of hose down into the bottom of the jar from the connection. The outlet connects to a length of hose that goes to an adapter I made to seal to the top of my M/C. For me I used a piece of 1/4" plate with rubber glued to the underside of it and chains to secure it to the M/C. I then fill the jar with brake fluid and connect the plate to my M/C. I set the output pressure on my Compressor line to about 25 pounds or so and connect the air to the jar. I go around to each of the bleaders and crack them untill the fluid comes out clean at each. And that should do it. It works for me anyway.
Power brake bleeder Not traditional, but I know one of my Audi buddies has one of these. Works fine. I made one from a hand pump bug sprayer but gave it away. TZ
Sam, come over and borrow mine. It's just a flat plate with a piece of rubber and a metal tire valve to hold it all in place (or an innertube would work). Simply C-clamp it over the master cyl when it's full of fluid, pressurize with air such as a bicycle pump, and have another person go to the appropriate bleeder and crack it open. Stop after a while and top off fluid level. Presto, poor man's pressure bleeder. Just don't go too long and let the fluid run out in the master cyl.
I picked up one of those kind that ****. it ****ed good on the rear drum cylinders, but ****ed bad on the fronts calipers. went back to the two person technique.. that kinda ****s too. ........ if there is a clean easy way for one person to bleed brakes I'd like to hear it too. Paul
If you can't get a monkey with a 3/16" wrench . . . Automatic bleeder valves work pretty good. an old jug and a tube to catch the fluid and you are all set.
I have used one of those in line check valves that Toyota's have all over the motor in their vacuum lines...put that in a rubber hose...slip the hose over the ****** and the other end in a can of brake fluid...open the bleeder...get in the car and pump the brakes....has always worked great
I did what 38Chevy454 did. Piece of properly sized/shaped flat 1/2" aluminum tapped 1/8-NPT over each reservoir of a dual M/C. Screwed in a couple of Schrader tank valves- those are tire valves on one end and 1/8-NPT on the other. Glue a rubber or paper gasket to the bottom, set up a clamping system - some types of vise grips work well for this. Set your air pressure regulator at 35# or so. Install a locking type tire fill chuck onto the Schrader valve. Bleed one brake on that circuit. Refill M/C, bleed other brake on that circuit. Bleed the remaining cirucuits. One reservoir full for each wheel usually does it without going dry. Nice part is it's a one-person system.
Used vacuum to bleed brakes. First pulled all the bleeder screws and wrapped the threads with teflon tape to make them air tight. The bleeder is a old brake fluid can with a screw on cap. Brazed two ******s into it (on opposite sides of can top) made from 1/8" brake tubing; one goes into can 1" and the other about 1-1/2". Longer tube is connected by a clear rubber hose to the bleeder screw (make sure connections are tight). Shorter tube is connected to a vacuum source, for which I use either little siphon gun on the compressor or a hand vacuum pump. Crack the bleeder screw maybe 1/8 - 1/4 turn, apply the vacuum, and fluid is pulled from the caliper into the can. Takes seconds per brake. Keep the reservoir from going dry!
I went to harbor freight and bought a brake bleeder set...it was just a couple of bucks. It has a small plastic bottle with a magnet attached to it so you can stick the bottle on the car higher than the wheel cylinder. then theres a plastic tube with 2 or 3 different ******s so you can stick it in the bleeder....just crack one wheel cyl. open with the bleeder in it and pump the brakes a few times...gently! The air goes out and up into the bottle. It has saved my *** a few times!!
Here's mine, bought it on the net for about 40 bucks. Adapted an extra master cylinder cap to the tube. Easiest brake bleeding I've ever done. A friend made one from a garden sprayer, and it looks almost identical, without the pressure guage. His cost about 15 bucks. Here's a link to a webpage of a homemade unit, looks almost identical to mine. I found this link after I had already bought mine. The trick this guy used which I thought was great, was adding a bit of tubing to the underside of the MC cap, so that when you are finished, the fluid will siphon back into the sprayer tank down to the bottom of the tube, which length is set to correspond with the full level inside the MC. This way, it won't be overfull when you remove the bleeder, avoiding the mess. Home-made bleeder link Pete
Sam ,I just purchased a plastic one check valve from the fish store like you use in an aquarium air line and 5 foot of the clear hose and use that . works good ,about $5
Be carefull with some plastic parts. Brake fluid will eat them up. Sam: When you get your bleeder all ready, stop by San Leandro and I'll let you bleed the brakes on all my cars so you can fine tune your process!
For years I have used this 200 year old 50's basket ball shaped brake bleeder. It works like a champ but, has a bladder that has got to lay down and die sooner or later. When it does I'm going with BLUESKIES bug sprayer. It's like a walrus or a Tampon. All you need is a tight seal. And a little pressure.
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