I have bled brakes all day

[WZ JUNK]

Spent the day trying to get brakes to work correctly on the 32.  I tried: conventional method(pumping, holding down and cracking the bleeder), bleeding at the wheel with my little vacuum pump, pressure bleeding from the master cylinder.  I still have air in the lines and a mushy pedal.  Any thoughts?

John

[phat46]

Spent the day trying to get brakes to work correctly on the 32.  I tried: conventional method(pumping, holding down and cracking the bleeder), bleeding at the wheel with my little vacuum pump, pressure bleeding from the master cylinder.  I still have air in the lines and a mushy pedal.  Any thoughts?

John

We bled brakes on my brothers '34 for an hour or so, then rechecked all fittings. We found one connection that turned about a quarter turn, tightened that and that fixed it. It must have been sucking a little air on that fitting.

[Bob K]

Spent the day trying to get brakes to work correctly on the 32.  I tried: conventional method(pumping, holding down and cracking the bleeder), bleeding at the wheel with my little vacuum pump, pressure bleeding from the master cylinder.  I still have air in the lines and a mushy pedal.  Any thoughts?

John

An old trick I've always used when that happens is this. Jack up the rear of the car and bleed them and then lower it and do the same for the front brakes.

It seems that when we build our own lines that we don't get them as straight as the factory and there is sometimes a little place in the line that is higher than the rest and this traps the air. If you jack up the car that will make the bleeder the highest place and you should be able to force the air bubble out.

Worth a try, it has worked for me on many occasions.

B B

[EMSjunkie]

Just a thought..........yeah I know..."there he goes again thinkin' "

are the bleeders near the top of the calipers?
or are they close to the bottom?

I'm assuming you are doing disc brakes :?

Vance

[enjenjo]

Well, I bled brakes today too. Start to finish, it took about 1 hour. I was lucky this time  It's about time!

[Crosley.In.AZ]

master cylinder above the calipers and wheel cylinders?

I have seen new m/c that were junk and would not bleed..... been there , got the t-shirt

[GPster]

I tried: conventional method(pumping, holding down and cracking the bleeder), John

It's too late for me to go out to the garage and get the copy of what I was told the last time but you might check in the archives or wait until tomorrow. When I was concerned about the fact that the brake line plumbing on the truck project had some places higher than the bleeders our electrical guru gave me a bleeding proceedure that worked and he didn't recommend pumping the pedal. Just one firm push on the pedal til resistance is felt and then keep a firm foot on that pedal while the bleeder is opened. When the bleeder is closed let the pedal come clear back and repeat. His proceedure worked for me after days of trying what I thought was right. As a matter of fact I made a copy of it so my wife would have something to read while she was pressing on the pedal. I'm afraid I can't remember his name so you can look in the archives for his responce but it might be Skip or some other S name. He's supposed to do a lot of car wiring and is located in the North East (Boston?). You're probably not reading this now because you have to be up early to drive school bus. GPster

[Leon]

I had the same problem on the 54, I took the master back out and bench bled it the second time and then did the system.  It worked that time.  I almost wish I had a 1" master, the 1 1/8 doesn't move much but requires a little more pressure on the pedal.

[WZ JUNK]

I tried: conventional method(pumping, holding down and cracking the bleeder), John

It's too late for me to go out to the garage and get the copy of what I was told the last time but you might check in the archives or wait until tomorrow. When I was concerned about the fact that the brake line plumbing on the truck project had some places higher than the bleeders our electrical guru gave me a bleeding proceedure that worked and he didn't recommend pumping the pedal. Just one firm push on the pedal til resistance is felt and then keep a firm foot on that pedal while the bleeder is opened. When the bleeder is closed let the pedal come clear back and repeat. His proceedure worked for me after days of trying what I thought was right. As a matter of fact I made a copy of it so my wife would have something to read while she was pressing on the pedal. I'm afraid I can't remember his name so you can look in the archives for his responce but it might be Skip or some other S name. He's supposed to do a lot of car wiring and is located in the North East (Boston?). You're probably not reading this now because you have to be up early to drive school bus. GPster

I give it a try when I get back from the route this morning.  Thanks Joe.

You describe Skip pretty good.

John

[Dave]

Spent the day trying to get brakes to work correctly on the 32.  I tried: conventional method(pumping, holding down and cracking the bleeder), bleeding at the wheel with my little vacuum pump, pressure bleeding from the master cylinder.  I still have air in the lines and a mushy pedal.  Any thoughts?

John

I guess ive been just plain lucky. Cept for the lockup problem on the rear of my coupe ive never had any brake problems and i dont use prop valves and most of the time i dont use residual valves either. even with the under the floor m/c. I dont even bench bleed em i just have sue pump when im ready and i bleed em? I hope by stating this i dont jinx myself on the new roadster?
Dave

[Rayvyn]

Spent the day trying to get brakes to work correctly on the 32.  I tried: conventional method(pumping, holding down and cracking the bleeder), bleeding at the wheel with my little vacuum pump, pressure bleeding from the master cylinder.  I still have air in the lines and a mushy pedal.  Any thoughts?

John

Did you run steel lines throughout the frame, then flex lines?
If the flex lines are too long, they will expand with pressure and cause a spongy pedal. Steel lines won't expand.
I just saw this on a nascar tech show a couple of days ago. Guy was talking about bleeding, prop valvas, lines, etc. They power bleed their systems, but he stated that even with manual bleeding there's enough pressure to force air out of the lines. The secret is to do it fast enough so the air doesn't have time to retract back towards the MC when the pedal is released.
He also said the prop. valve of choice amongst racers was a locking lever action valve, not the dial type like Wilwood.
My .02 worth.

[WZ JUNK]

Spent the day trying to get brakes to work correctly on the 32.  I tried: conventional method(pumping, holding down and cracking the bleeder), bleeding at the wheel with my little vacuum pump, pressure bleeding from the master cylinder.  I still have air in the lines and a mushy pedal.  Any thoughts?

John

I took the system apart today and looked it all over.  I noticed that the piston in the master cylinder was not moving much.   When I set up the pedal arm I bent a Z in the arm to get the pedal away from the steering column.  This shortened the pedal arm and I limited the amount of stroke I was getting when you pumped the brakes.  It was bottoming out on the floor before it moved enough.  I extended the pedal arm just below the pedal about 2 inches and now everything works the way it should.  I was not getting enough movement to effectively move the master cylinder piston to bleed and work the brakes.  The pedal is a little farther from the floor than I wanted it to be but the system works.   I think the case is solved.

John

[Dave]

Spent the day trying to get brakes to work correctly on the 32.  I tried: conventional method(pumping, holding down and cracking the bleeder), bleeding at the wheel with my little vacuum pump, pressure bleeding from the master cylinder.  I still have air in the lines and a mushy pedal.  Any thoughts?

John

I took the system apart today and looked it all over.  I noticed that the piston in the master cylinder was not moving much.   When I set up the pedal arm I bent a Z in the arm to get the pedal away from the steering column.  This shortened the pedal arm and I limited the amount of stroke I was getting when you pumped the brakes.  It was bottoming out on the floor before it moved enough.  I extended the pedal arm just below the pedal about 2 inches and now everything works the way it should.  I was not getting enough movement to effectively move the master cylinder piston to bleed and work the brakes.  The pedal is a little farther from the floor than I wanted it to be but the system works.   I think the case is solved.

John

TA DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Good deal
Dave :!:  

[Crosley.In.AZ]

always the simple s**t that gets ya.

[Pep]

Now they are bled, adjust the travel back to where you want it. There will be a fair bit of room to move until the brakes start to apply. You only need full travel when you are bleeding them.