Date:         Mon, 23 Dec 1996 12:24:37 -0500 (EST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         ERIC ZENO <emz@pgh.nauticom.net>
Subject:      Re: Bleeding Bloody Brakes

On Mon, 23 Dec 1996, Jeff Carver wrote:

> My record on bleeding brakes remains intact.
> 
> I STILL have yet to do a bleed job without leaving bubbles in there.
> 
> During my reading up on master cylinders I found the cautionary 
> statement to be sure to do a bench bleed of the master cylinder.  
> Never found out what to do to accomplish this task.
> 
> 
> How do you do a "bench bleed" of the master?
(snip)
> I bought a MityVac unit to assist in draining/bleeding brakes.
> 
> It pulled a mity vacuum, but all it did was to to pull air into the 
> bleed line due to the leak of the threaded bleed fitting.  Of limited 
> use.  Nice to be able to pull a vacuum, open bleeder valve, provide 
> time to get to driver's seat and then push on brakes to bleed (with 
> check valve in bleed line to jar) works sorta.
(snip) 
> Never got any replies on how to remove a handbrake cable, so cobbled 
> something together.  Managed to get brake cable stuck, with no way to 
> PUSH on the floppy cable.  Found a piece of plastic pipe that was 
> just big enough to go over the handbrake side.  Slid it over the 
> cable to butt against the rubber grommet stopper.  This restricted 
> the bending of the cable and allowed me to push against it to free it up.
> 
> - Jeff
> '80 Westi, there's sorta stopping me now!
> 
     Bleeding brake requires 2 people. Even the pros say this!
     Forget all the fancy non-sense type tools.
     Before bleeding make sure the brake are adjusted first.

     Bench bleeding gets the air out of the master before
     installing. This is important because with air in the 
     mater cylinder and the rest of the system, it is almost
     impposible to get the system started, (working).  
     No other reason for this.

     I never found a need to remove a Emergency-brake cable. I will 
     soon mine are rusted almost thru.

                                  Eric