Bleeding brakes

[mr300ex]

I took my hoses off my front brakes and now they dont work. I know i need to bleed them but how do i do it?

[Dr89]

there are bolts on the calipers that you just need to loosen, and pump your brakes. dont take them completely off though or you'll get air in your lines and just have to do it again. loosen them up, pump the brakes, until you see fluid coming through, and then tighten them right back up...always works for me anyways.

[fluxcapacitor]

There ought to be a bleeder valve on the caliper that has a rubber cap on it. Pop the cap off, and loosen the valve. Take all the caps and rubber peices off of the brake resiviour (should be on the handlebars for the front brakes) Fill the resiviour with brake fluid, and let it gravity flow out of the valve on the caliper that you have loosened. Keep doing this until you have NO air bubbles coming out of the valve. Once you have no bubbles, squeaze the brake lever very slowly until it is all the way down. While it is all the way down tighten the valve at the same time. This is very important to do to have maximum response from your brakes. You might have to get someone else to either sqeaze the handle slowly or tighten. Then fill the resiviour up to the full line and but the rubber dust cap, and the resiviour cap back on. Good Luck.

Flux

[Ryanwolfe911]

No offense, but you shouldn't be working on your bike if you don't know how to bleed your brakes. That is a major safety issue.

[bwamos]

No offense.. but not everyone is born with the knowledge on how to bleed brakes. Most of us had to learn it at one point or another. ;)

So, he doesn't know how to bleed brakes. He asked for help politely. I see no fault. He has to learn sometime.


The bleeder valve is part #3 on the diagram below. #4 is the rubber cap. Just loosen #3 it will allow the fluid to flow.

http://www.servicehonda.com/hard%20parts/atv/trx300ex_93_02/front_brake_caliper.jpg

I prefer to use a checkvalve bleeder like the following http://www.denniskirk.com/denniskirk/b2c/product_images/m/p/0/600pix/mp08143.jpg

It is simply a check valve that opens up when you pull in the brake lever so the brake fluid and air bubbles can come out, but closes up when you release the lever so air can not come back in.

I like it because it makes it an easy 1 man job, and you can see the air bubbles going through the line, so you know when they are all gone.

Since the air was introduced at the top of the brake system, I'd run enough brake fluid through to replace the entire system.

Once the bubbles are all gone just tighten #3 back up, and then remove the bleeder hose and put on the cap #4.

Easy as pie.

Make sure to keep the fluid in the resivour next the the brake lever topped off. If it gets too low it will start sucking air back in again.

Since it is up front, you may also want to bleed the right brake, then the left, just to be sure. Brake fluid is cheap. Hitting a tree isn't ;)

[300exOH]

Another easy solution would be to pick up a brake bleeder kit from an autoparts store. I believe it's called a miti-vac brake bleeder. You can pick them up for around $20-$25. You can just connect the bleeder to the valve open it up and pump the fluid through the system. Just make sure to keep the reservior full or you will have to start all over. It is much easier/faster than pumping by hand. I think it only took about 15-20 min. to bleed my front lines when I replaced them with stainless steel ones. Just follow the instructions included with the kit and you'll have brakes in no time.

[bwamos]

Originally posted by 300exOH
Another easy solution would be to pick up a brake bleeder kit from an autoparts store.

Agree.

[Ryanwolfe911]

A mighty-vac is a bit overkill for a quad. It's not like you can't just reach up and pull the lever by hand. I only use my mighty-vac on cars, when there is no one around to pump the pedal for me.

I wasn't trying to insult the guy, I was being serious. I am an ASE certified master automobile technician. I see first hand every single day, people try to do their own work, with no idea what they're doing, and end up causing more damage and costing themselves more money, than if they just brought the car to me in the first place.

[300exOH]

Originally posted by Ryanwolfe911
A mighty-vac is a bit overkill for a quad. It's not like you can't just reach up and pull the lever by hand. I only use my mighty-vac on cars, when there is no one around to pump the pedal for me.

I wasn't trying to insult the guy, I was being serious. I am an ASE certified master automobile technician. I see first hand every single day, people try to do their own work, with no idea what they're doing, and end up causing more damage and costing themselves more money, than if they just brought the car to me in the first place.

I agree that the mighty vac is sort of overkill but if you have it why not use it? You are right that people do cause problems trying to do work themselves but I hardly think that is the case with bleeding brakes. I just don't believe in paying a tech $60/hr. and up to do work that can easily be done in the garage with minimal tools. Especially when it comes to maintenance. Personally I have had more problems with techs working on my car than any of the work I've done myself. I have been working on cars/mowers/atv's for about 17 years though so I have plenty of experience. I also have a friend who is an ASE mechanic so I can get advice when I need it.

[Ryanwolfe911]

You're the type of person I can get along with real good. I agree with the whole labor thing, especially since my shop charges $78 an hour. If I had to pay someone to do it, I would be broke. It just sounded like the guy needed some direction.

[mr300ex]

Ya i know that i should know how to bleed breaks but im only 15 and still learning. That was the one thing that i really didnt know how to do besides inside engine work. Thanks for all the replys they really helped.

[300exOH]

Originally posted by Ryanwolfe911
You're the type of person I can get along with real good. I agree with the whole labor thing, especially since my shop charges $78 an hour. If I had to pay someone to do it, I would be broke. It just sounded like the guy needed some direction.

$78/hr? Ouch.:eek2: That's exactly why I learned to fix things myself. I just can't afford to pay someone to do every little repair. I agree that it sounded like he needed direction but since mr300ex is young I thought it best to try and pass on the knowledge... that's how I learned. Everyone's got to start somewhere if they don't want to or can't afford to pay someone.

Anyhow sorry for the long post.

mr300ex- If you don't want to spend the money on the bleeder kit then bwamos method works just as well but may take a bit more time. Good luck

[Ryanwolfe911]

I have found the easiestway o get all the air out is to put fluid in the resiviour with the cap off, and open one bleeder at a time until fluid drips out via gravity, then slowly pull the lever all the way down , then close the bleeder. Open the bleeder and again pull the lever all the way down. Repeat this til no more air is seen in the stream of fluid. Don't make the mistake of pumping the lever until it gets hard, then opening bleeder. You will areate your fluid and cause air pockets to be trapped inthe calipers and master cylinder. ( I have been burned by this serveral times before)