Brake Bleeder and Vacuum Pump Kit

[caseymcq]

Has anyone used one of these Brake Bleeder and Vacuum Pump Kits to bleed their brakes themselves? Do they work / are they worth the money?

Thanks!

[jentz]

The cheap one from harborfreight works great.I never tried any others

[Macgyver55]

Is this for your pickup that you just did the ball joint on? You should be able to gravity bleed it with no problem. If you are doing the fronts only, start by first making sure the master cylinder is full, then open the bleeder on the passenger side and leave it open until fluid comes out. Close the bleeder, top off the master cylinder again then do the drivers side the same way. Then pump the brakes a few times and crack the bleeders one more time for good measure.

Its pretty rare, but if you are having a problem they do work, but are not usually necessary.

[caseymcq]

Yup, that's exactly what it is for. Thanks for the tip, I will give that a try first.

I only had to remove the caliper on the driver side. Does that have any bearing on how I do this?

jentz, it is funny you mentioned the Harbor Freight one because that was exactly what I was looking at getting.

[Macgyver55]

If you didnt do anything on the passenger side you can leave it alone, but as long as you are at it, its not a bad idea to flush some clean new fluid through both fronts or even the whole system.

[chasineyes]

We have one of the hand pump kind at work and it sucks! It seems like to "nipple/rubber" end rarely stays on the bleeds screw. Not to mention it tends to be almost as messy as doing it by gravity or just pumping the brakes. A trick I have been using is to use a clear 24" plastic tube that fits over the bleeder screw. Hold that tube upright and have someone pump the brakes, while they are slowly pumping you can then actually watch the bubbles rise to the top, this means you dont' have to "close" the bleeder when they let up becuase the fluid will be sucked in instead of air. After two pumps there should be no more air.

Something a guy at work told me also to be aware of (if someone here could verify that would be great). Automobile brake lines are cross-directional. In that the Front Right is on the same line as the Rear Left and the Front Left is on the same line as the Rear Right. He said they do this becuase if on brake line is destroyed you will still have some front and rear.

[Macgyver55]

Something a guy at work told me also to be aware of (if someone here could verify that would be great). Automobile brake lines are cross-directional. In that the Front Right is on the same line as the Rear Left and the Front Left is on the same line as the Rear Right. He said they do this becuase if on brake line is destroyed you will still have some front and rear.

That would be news to me!

Thats incorrect. Since its begining, the dual master cylinder was designed with one reservoir for the front brakes and one for the rear brakes. This was so that in the event that a brake, a hose or a steel line were to fail either on one or the other, the other half of the cylinder would still be able operate the brakes on the unaffected axle. (front or rear)

[caseymcq]

Thanks for the replies. As usual you guys are a big help.