bleeding a hydraulic clutch and throwout

I have a Wilwood master cyl and a Ram Hydraulic throwout bearing in my HA/GR dragster. We had great luck with it last year and no problem when we set it up the first time. We had the engine-trans out over the winter. The trans and clutch ***emble sat in the corner all winter and It must have leaked down. We have everything back in the car now, and we can't get it bled and working again.

The bearing sits higher than the master cyl. The bleeeder port comes off the top of the throwout bearing. Could the air bubble be stuck in the master cyl? I'm thinking I should move the master cyl higher than the bearing during the bleeding process. Do you think that could solve our problem?

I think I've heard of guys having trouble when a brake master cyl is below the floor boards on a low car. could I have a simmilar problem?

 

These can be a bear to bleed . I disconnect the slave cylinder and hand pump the fluid back up through the master cylinder. I can't answer about the placement, but I think if the air is out of the line it shouldn't matter.

 

Yeah, I think we should have bench bled the setup first, but now it's it the rail. It's not a slave cyl, it's a hydraulic thowout bearing (by the way).

 

Any ideas?

 

I'm confused here. On a standard clutch set up there is a small master cylinder, then a line down to a slave cylinder, that works the arm that holds the throw out bearing, which then engages the clutch. If there is such a thing as a hydraulic throwout bearing, I am further behind than I thought in technology, which is most of the time. Bring me up to date.

 

Get yourself a hand pump type bleeder rig. (cheap) Have a buddy pour fluid into the resevoir as you pump it out of the TO bearing. Easy, fast, effective.

Craig

 

drill a small hole in the top of the bellhousing for the bleeder line to come up thru.
that way the air can't get trapped,it makes bleeding alot easier.
we do this on stock cars all the time.

 

you can "reverse bleed" it like they do airplanes. hook your bleeder up to the throwout bearing and force the air back through the system. should work fine being the slave is higher than the bleeder on the throwout bearing.

 

We got it fixed last weekend. I called Wilwood (master cylinder) and Ram (hydraulic throwout beraing) and the both agreed, you need to have the master cyl higher than the part you're bleeding. We raised the m***ter cyl up and it bled on the first stroke.

This photo shows what a hydraulic throwout bearing looks like.