Homemade brake pressure bleeder

[Yukon Jack]

A while back I saw a post somewhere on making your own pressure bleeder for brake and hydraulic clutchs. Since I do most of my work on my truck alone I figured this was worth looking into.

Here are two links that I saw in the past that detail how to make the pressure bleeder.

http://www.arkansaspontiacs.org/tec...der%20story.htm

http://www.bmw-m.net/TechProc/bleeder.htm

It is very easy and cost me very little. I had an old garden sprayer that had a broken wand so I got it cleaned up and used it for the sprayer. Then all that is needed is a piece of metal to secure to the brake reservoir and a barbed ended metal fitting that I attached to the metal plate after tapping the hole. I put a piece of rubber on the metal plate to aid sealing against the reservoir. For a hydraulic clutch I assume you would want to buy an extra cap and drill it for the fitting.

I put a small tube in the fitting like on of the links recommended so some of the fluid would siphon out of the reservoir so it wouldn't be over filled when you are ready to pull the metal plate off the reservoir.

I also added a pressure gauge as the links mention you don't want more than 20 psi. I had an old gauge so I just drilled a hole in the tank and screwed in the gauge. No leaks even without sealing it up.

I would recommend putting something under the reservoir as I did have a little leaking each time until I got the metal plate tightened down enough. I used c-clamps to secure the plate to the reservoir.

This tool works like a charm. The only drawback that I found was that when initially getting fluid to flow I was adding a bit of air to the reservoir so I ended up flushing all the old fluid then the air and then the new fluid. That was fine for me since I was intending to get rid of all the old fluid and that made it easy to see when I was into the new fluid.

[67ChevyC10Stepside]

how do you use that on a old style MC? mine is gonna be the one off our 86..the composite and aluminum one..wouldnt all the pressure leak out?

[Yukon Jack]

I'm assuming your brake master is similar to this one - you just put the flat piece in place of the stock filler cap and then I used two c-clamps to clamp it down tight.

[chickenwing]

It IS a good idea... Still kinda leery of it though. My thoughts on this are the "real" pressure bleaders are a diaphram type. Fluid one side, pressurized on the other. My understanding of why they are made this way is to keep the moisture in the air from being absorbed into the brake fluid. Non-synthetic brake fluid readily absorbs moisture. I only buy the small bottles of brake fluid for this reason.

Yukon Jack, not tryin to rain on your parade. Just want everyone to see all of the angles.

Rich