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Vacuum brake bleeding kit recommendation please


Steve Blackdog

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Steve Blackdog

Hi all

 

I have been having a bit of trouble bleeding my rear brake after cleaning up the caliper and changing the fluid. 
 

I bought a generic one way valve bleeder, but it is pretty crap and will be making a return trip to Amazon.   I have been pumping the pedal, but even after I think I have bled out all of the air, the brake is still very spongy. 
 

Is there a decent make vacuum bleeding kit (manual rather than fed by compressor)?  All the kits on Amazon, which retail in the  £20 area, seem to be cheap and cheerful. 
 

I can’t find any “quality” alternatives. Any suggestions/ recommendations?  Are the generic Chinese kits any good?

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wingrider.steve

I use a Mityvac vacuum bleeding kit, had it for a few years now and it is a well made piece of kit.

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Steve Blackdog
1 hour ago, wingrider.steve said:

I use a Mityvac vacuum bleeding kit, had it for a few years now and it is a well made piece of kit.

Yes, that does look much better than the cheap kits. 

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Mityvac for me as well>>

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I have used and have a Mityvac itok but I now use a partly home made system powered by an ex NHS vaccume pump or a pressure reducing regulator from the workshop compressed air  so suck or blow 

I would look carefull at a calliper that been worked on the remains 'spungy'  as a test remove clamp piston  is it now harder ??

Most if not all the I blead the brakes but it not hard we see are mechanical faults not hydrolic and very few are failed to bleed !

 

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Steve Blackdog
On 17/01/2022 at 07:18, davebike said:

I have used and have a Mityvac itok but I now use a partly home made system powered by an ex NHS vaccume pump or a pressure reducing regulator from the workshop compressed air  so suck or blow 

I would look carefull at a calliper that been worked on the remains 'spungy'  as a test remove clamp piston  is it now harder ??

Most if not all the I blead the brakes but it not hard we see are mechanical faults not hydrolic and very few are failed to bleed !

 

What mechanical faults should I be looking for?

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9 hours ago, Steve Blackdog said:

What mechanical faults should I be looking for?

Sticky  pistons  and on sliding callipers like the NC  worn or rusty sliding pins or what they go into 

Classic is use on non rubber safe grease on the smaller pin rubber it gointo swells resulting on reluctance to slide and aspungy brake  also same pin where rubber goes though calliper body alloy body corrodes and pushes the rubber to grip the pin

Years of experence tells me look for corrosion and spif parts first  I only bleed if system been appart or job came in with brand new fluid and signs of work being done   sliding  calipers not sliding or components worn is way more common  use of coppersilp on sliding parts where steel runs on alloy can ware out the alloy extreamly quickley 

 

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Please be aware that the procedure for bleeding the back brake involves bleeding the centre piston of the front caliper first,assuming you have linked brakes.

I hope this is your case as bleeding the system has always been straightforward when I have attempted it.

ride safe

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Grumpy old man
57 minutes ago, t5er said:

Please be aware that the procedure for bleeding the back brake involves bleeding the centre piston of the front caliper first,assuming you have linked brakes.

I hope this is your case as bleeding the system has always been straightforward when I have attempted it.

ride safe

Good point I think Steve has the 700 with linked brakes.

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Steve Blackdog

Yes, I have linked brakes. I bled the front centre nipple first then the rear. No sign of air bubbles. I also stripped, cleaned and greased the caliper using silicone grease on the rubber bits and copper grease where indicated in the Service Manual. 
 

I think I need to take it for a test ride and see if I am imagining things!

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Grumpy old man
1 hour ago, Steve Blackdog said:

 

I think I need to take it for a test ride and see if I am imagining things

Please keep us informed. 

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When stripping the calliper can I ask did you drain all the fluid out of the system? as I have never done this. The potential problem regarding bleeding may be in the ABS unit . This is uncharted territory for me as I have always topped up the master cylinder as required to prevent air getting into the system (I have never been sure whether the fluid in the ABS unit gets changed).To work on a calliper I have a brake line clamp to stop fluid loss and air getting in.

Hopefully one of our members can be more helpful.

Please be very careful on your test ride.

 

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Problems bleeding abs is as far as my workshop experence goes only Europian bike and most notably BMW  !    probibly bleed thousands of jap bikes ABS  and Linked and never had any real issues exept once ST1300  ANS and Linked  issue turned out to be the third master cyhlinder (on left hand fork leg acseen two cuvated by drag of calliper )  and it was that leaking air in giving me issues !   Workes really well when not faulty!  Seen two now both had been standing unused for over a year

 

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Andy m

I have a plastic jug shaped thing that connects to a compressor, definitely the best solution but hand pumps, one way valves and even jam jars work, just slower. 

 

Three ideas for problem systems:

 

1. Put a strap on the pedal/lever to hold it with the brakes on. Cycle the ignition and hope the ABS self tests. The "Stirring" can move bubbles. 

2.As above but leave overnight, bubbles will rise to the top. 

3. Remove the calliper or ABS unit with pipes connected and raise as high as you can. Try bleeding again in that position. 

 

I've never had problems with an unmodified bike. I know HD need to cycle the ABS via the diagnostics on some of theirs though. There were/are a couple of Landrovers that were bad. Worst I ever met was a howitzer, but that was the usual gold plated, late, over budget, botched rubbish those things usually are. We ended up filling each pipe, one at a time with a syringe, then getting a pressure fill system from Landrover. The MOD stored them for ten years, then filled DOT4 systems with hydraulic fluid, then replaced every component except the actual cannon. 

 

Andy 

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Steve Blackdog

Thanks for your comments everyone. 
 

I took the bike up the road (just a few hundred yards). The rear brake is working ok, but I am still having to press it down quite a way to get max braking. 
 

it is quite safe (and recently passed its MOT), but I am convinced there is much more travel in the pedal that there used to be. 
 

To answer one question, I did drain down the system when I took off the caliper, but the service manual seems to recommend that. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had mega problems with my VFR 800 a few years ago with bleeding problems, finally sorted it with this;

 

Goodridge Speed Bleeder

Goodridge Speed Bleeder
The Goodridge 'Speed Bleeder' is the perfect solution for eliminating the tedious, time consuming and repetitive job of bleeding brake systems, by simply replacing the existing bleed nipples.Their unique design incorporates a o…
 
  • Brand: Goodridge

 

 

 

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Steve Blackdog
3 hours ago, AutoBoy said:

I had mega problems with my VFR 800 a few years ago with bleeding problems, finally sorted it with this;

 

Goodridge Speed Bleeder

Goodridge Speed Bleeder
The Goodridge 'Speed Bleeder' is the perfect solution for eliminating the tedious, time consuming and repetitive job of bleeding brake systems, by simply replacing the existing bleed nipples.Their unique design incorporates a o…
 
  • Brand: Goodridge

 

 

 

That looks perfect.  On the NC700X there are three nipples, so about £30 and jobs a good’n. If Honda use standard threads, presumably you can move them from bike to bike. 

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As you can see the item has a type of rubber thread covering, which stops the air creeping down the tread, inside it has a sprung loaded one way ball valve.

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We had those in the early 70's..Halford's for one sold them.Never very good if i remember.

Can't beat the real thing. Mityvac.

Lyn.

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