Bleeding clutch slave cylinder

[atarijake]

Hello all, I've been attempting to diagnose a non-existent clutch for a couple days now. I went out to start the truck one morning and the clutch was on the floor with no resistance...

I went to bleed the system when I noticed some fluid leaking out of the slave cylinder boot. So I figured I'd just go ahead and replace it, thinking that was the most likely cause of the initial clutch failure.

So... I've read around on the forum that the best way to bleed them is to use the vacuum hand tool to draw all the air out of the system. So I borrowed the tool from a buddy.

However, the Haynes manual says to tip the slave cyclinder at a 45 degree angle with the bleed valve pointed up. This makes sense and all, allowing any trapped air to float up to the highest point and get sucked out, but I'm a little worried about breaking the clutch line. It's a metal hose and it's pretty cold outside. Is this line pretty tough? Can I bend it around and have it not break off on me? I had to bend it a little in order to get the slave cylinder off. There's an oil cooler assembly in the way. Is the clutch line way tougher than I think it is?

Thanks!