Brake Bleeder

[Roger Lee]

Here is a picture of a great brake bleeder. Ace Hardware or True Value for $10. Pressurized and one hand.Worth every penny. The bugs will be happy to know there is one less sprayer in the world.

[Roger Lee]

Hi Darren,

 

Here is a picture on the previous post of my brake bleeder. It is nothing more than a 1 gal bug sprayer and cost about $10. I just unscrewed the tip and put a plastic tube over the end (3/8"). Then I pushed another smaller tube in the end of the first tube that is the right size to fit over the bleeder valve nipple found on the bottom of the caliper (1/4"). Pour in a .25L of 5606 aircraft brake fluid (never ever auto brake fluid, this will eat your "O" rings, seals and plastic brake tubing). Pull the little plastic cap off the brake reservoir. Take another 3/8" ID tube about 10" long and insert one end into an empty 12 oz. water bottle and tape it in place with the tube about 1"- 2" inside the bottle opening. Slide the other end over the brake reservoir nipple where you took off the plastic cap. Now you have a nice little catch bottle for the over flow.

Now pump up the bug sprayer, bleed off any air in the plastic line so it only has brake fluid in it. Slide this end over the brake bleeder valve nipple. Take a 1/4" wrench and open the bleed valve a turn or two. Press the sprayer button and the brake fluid will flow through the system. Let it flow fast as this sweeps all the air out with the fluid. You only need to do this until you have about 1" of fluid in your reservoir overflow bottle. Close the bleeder nipple before removing the tube. No go over and do the same to the other side. After both sides have been bled then pump the brake handle 10-15 times fast and fairly hard. Now bleed each brake with the pump one more time, but this time you won't need much fluid flow. Don't forget to remove the overflow bottle and put the plastic cap back on. The cap has a vent hole cut it it. The reservoir should never be full and 1/2 full is just right. If you try to fill it which most likely won't happen, but if you did it would just over flow all over your planes' insides the first time you pulled the brake handle. When done I have only about 3 oz. of waste brake fluid. I never have any trapped air. The pump flows it so fast it removes all air. With this method a single person can flush the brake system in minutes and never have a problem.