Reverse Bleeder

[PatS....]

I made up a reverse bleeder similar to this one to bleed the slave cylinder on my 62 Dodge truck.

http://www.moccsplace.com/images/brakes/bleeder/bleeder.htm

There was a bit of running around and scavenging my misc parts bin, but I managed to get it done. The lamp base nut was the hardest item to find. Home Depot has everything else in the Watts section of plumbing.

Camera died so no pics.

The truck is a flat deck with stake pockets, so I hung the reservoir from an 8 foot 2X4 in the stake pocket.

Slid the tubing over the bleeder after using some teflon tape on the threads, turned the needle valve and watched the fluid slowly push the air out the master cylinder. Used the turkey baster to remove a bit of fluid then let it fill up, turned off the fluid flow and it was done.

Put the cap back on and the clutch works perfectly.

For someone working alone, this is perfect, and ridiculously easy once you have the thing built.

Brake master cylinder is next so will have to bleed the brakes then. I'll report on how that works then.

From the above website:

Some items you will need:

1.) A typical 16 or 20 oz water bottle, clean and dry.

2.) A 3/16" Brass Hose Barb from the hardware store (with 1/8" pipe threads on the back end).

3.) A 1/2" brass Lamp base nut (listed with 1/8" ISP threads (to secure the hose barb with.)

4.) Two used banjo crush washers (these are a perfect size, but other washers will work.

5.) 6 feet of 3/16" inside diameter clear tubing.

6.) (Optional) 1/4" outside brass needle valve.

7.) A roll of Duct tape and a Coat Hangar or rope for suspending the bottle.

8.) Turkey baster (for removing excess fluid from reservoir.

9.) Some Teflon plumber's tape for sealing the bleeder valve threads.

Take your bleeder screw with you to make sure you get the right size tubing...don't just go by this list...it's for motorcycles.

[greg g]

I usually hate IV's but this one has promise. No pressure other than fluid weight and gravity???

Would this work on a brak MC with a residual valve or you you need to squeeze the bottle to over come the intermal valve?

[Young Ed]

The reverse bleeders I've seen for cars use vaccuum at each wheel and pull fluid from the MC.

[PatS....]

I usually hate IV's but this one has promise. No pressure other than fluid weight and gravity???

Would this work on a brake MC with a residual valve or you you need to squeeze the bottle to over come the internal valve?

Greg, I'm guessing the fact that the fluid is going IN via the fluid return route that there would be little or no resistance but I can't be sure.

I only used the height and about a quart of fluid in the reservoir (an old clean plastic soda bottle) then returned the excess to the brake fluid container.

I like this method because once built there are no tools or help required and the air is chased right out the master cylinder.

As long as the bleeder screw threads are coated, there is no air in the system once the bubbles in the master stop.

[TodFitch]

I usually hate IV's but this one has promise. No pressure other than fluid weight and gravity???

Would this work on a brak MC with a residual valve or you you need to squeeze the bottle to over come the intermal valve?

I'd guess you will have to overcome the couple of PSI that the residual valve in the master cylinder tries to keep in the system.

The first result I found on Google shows brake fluid to have a density nearly the same as water (20°C, kg/L 1.027), so assuming you have to overcome 3 or 4 PSI on the residual valve you would need your "IV bottle" to be 7 or so feet higher than the master cylinder. I'd have to do this outside as my master cylinder is about 18" off the ground and my garage has a ceiling a little lower than 8'.

[pflaming]

I am going to build one of these. Will 'bench bleed' the MC first as explained in another post, and install it.

My brake lines are empty! So, will have to fill them after installing the MC. Then start the bleeding procedure.

If I understand this system, the bottle is used to (1) supply fluid and (2) to be a hand pressure pump to force the fluid into the system. Question: where do I look for the air bubbles? Do they work their way up the system into the bottle in 15 + minutes?

Does this bleed all four wheels or do you do this for each wheel?

[greg g]

You feed the lines from the bleed nipple back to the MC. So if you do it correctly the new fluid will push any air toward and out the MC to atmosphere. If you do it correctly you should only need to push the pedal down enough to fill the unexpanded wheel cylinders then top up the MC. Should not in theory need to be bleed in the conventional manner.

With the fluid coming in from a source above the MC, the MC should fill and the air in the new wheel cylinders and empty lines should exit at the MC leaving only clean fluid filling th lines.

Start at the rear pass side, and then go to the drivers side then pass side front and finish at dr side front. YOu might want a chatch pan under the MC if you are working alone as it will be pretty easy to over fill the MC.

Hand pressure shouldn't be necessary if the clean fluid container is above the MC by an inch or two .

[pflaming]

So one does that with each bleed nipple at each backing plate. Just attach the line and let the fluid push its way through, the air will be in front of the fluid and "bubble" out at the MC. Got all this on a doc so I can attach it to the truck as I work.

Edited April 5, 2010 by pflaming

[greg g]

Says here in fine print. But beware of all enterprises beginning with "All you Gotta Do Is...."