Brakes don't want to bleed !!!

[Unclesol]

That sounds like a common affliction. Thanks for the help!

[8trackmind]

Me personally I'm too cheap and stupid. I would rather waste 6 hours on a sunny Sunday, than go spend $30 and be done in 10 min.

I have a Mighty-Vac, you can indeed bleed the brakes in 10 mins. No mess either. Life is too short to waste 6 hours bleeding brakes.

[hp1000s]

Yea Mighty-Vac!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's how break-bleeding is done! : )

[Nessism]

Unfortunately, the Mighty-Vac is made out of plastic and mine just cracked in half from age - less than 10 years old. Yea I know, 10 years is a long time. But I have tons of tools that are three times that old and are like new.

[MrZoom]

vacuum

After rebuilding the front master cylinder for my 1980 gs550, I also found it to be impossible to get pressure in the lines. I found a great trick by accident: I had a hand pumped syphon thingy and I hooked the "suck" end to the bleeder valve. Next I pumped it until there was a mild vacuum in the pump, then I opened the bleed valve and closed it again after about 2 seconds. I repeated this a few more times and when I got back on the brake lever... WOW! Like magic, I finally had brake pressure! I figure by sucking the fluid thru the lines instead of just pushing it the bubbles get sucked right out. Good luck!

[RJ]

Kind of along the lines of Chef's method, I had a problem with mushy brakes after installing 6 piston calipers and new lines. I don't remember how I came to do this but I took the pads out and pushed each piston all the way into the caliper body one at a time on both calipers. Slapped it back together and pumped the lever a couple of times. Rock hard brakes after that. I must have jiggled a few air bubbles loose that made their way up to the M/C and to the surface of the brake fluid.

[hp1000s]

Mighty-vac's are now made of long-lasting cast aluminum; at least mine is. And you can also use it as a vacuum gauge, tests fuel petcocks, and can even be adapted to pressurize our GS forks, too! They're not just for brake-bleeding any more.

[bwringer]

You can get a cheapo plastic Mity-Vac (like mine), but they also make higher-end models made from metal.

I destroyed my first Mity-Vac when it sucked in rust flakes from a gnarly 4WD system on an old Dodge (not my truck thank FSM), so mine now sports a fuel filter I happened to have lying around which serves well enough to filter out contaminants. It's about 2 inches in diameter and translucent so I can see all the crud that didn't make it into my Mity-Vac.

The procedure was described earlier, but you do have to bench bleed master cylinders to get most of the air out of them before hooking up the brake lines.

[Nessism]

The procedure was described earlier, but you do have to bench bleed master cylinders to get most of the air out of them before hooking up the brake lines.

Yup +1 :-D

[Tom MLC]

I just replaced the brake lines on my 1000 with new SS lines. I was pumping away, but not getting any fluid through the lines. Only an occasional bubble would come up, and the level in the master cylinder did not go down. Turns out the new master cylinder banjo bolt was about 3/8 inch shorter than the old bolt. Is there something in there that the bolt pushes against? Maybe a cup, or diaphram? Anyway, when I re-installed the tarnished old bolt, I bled the brakes in minutes.

[Clone]

There is also a real slick tool called a "mighty-vac" Its a small pump actuated vaccume tool that you connect to the lower bleed screws and simply pump away. It draws fluid down through all the lines. Problem is the tool is $30. Me personally I'm too cheap and stupid. I would rather waste 6 hours on a sunny Sunday, than go spend $30 and be done in 10 min.

I saw these and wondered if anyone used them. I was thinking it is a good way to swap out the old fluid quickly. It is not stupid, it is stubborn, I know because my wife calls me that all the time.