front brake

[CDNRatMan]

  I did something really bad.....I had mine ordered from Harbour Freight, but they started to balk at shipping to Canada, so one of the USAF guys bought it for me and I am just waiting for it to arrive. Heck I had to pay $40.00 or so for it, but I'll take pictures and post them....

[Drift1]

Ratman,I bought mine from Harbor Freight $20 it did work well.I know not to suck the mc dry for next years brake fluid change.Looking forward to your pics....you do a good job with that.

[CDNRatMan]

now I can not wait to get my mity vac.....once I get it I'll get some pitcures for the forum.

[chief]

if anyone wants to do this a take pics, I will make a web page for it and put it out on the Mods/Tips. I am placing it in the mods/tips board here in the forum as well.

[49Reo]

Thanks a lot Greenbarn ;)This was very helpful,my man.I did suck the mc dry twice.Once removing the old brake fluid and the second time running new through the lines to be sure it was cleaned.By doing so I must have built up plenty of air :oThanks for all the useful info and tips as well.My problem is solved and now have front brakes in working order ;)Great info Greenbarn,thank you.
Chief this post was very useful and think this useful post should be added to the mods/tips section here on the forum to help other Drifters out.

I second that; great article, Greenbarn. This should definitely be in the "mods/Tips" section. MO

[Drift1]

Thanks a lot Greenbarn ;)This was very helpful,my man.I did suck the mc dry twice.Once removing the old brake fluid and the second time running new through the lines to be sure it was cleaned.By doing so I must have built up plenty of air :oThanks for all the useful info and tips as well.My problem is solved and now have front brakes in working order ;)Great info Greenbarn,thank you.
Chief this post was very useful and think this useful post should be added to the mods/tips section here on the forum to help other Drifters out.

[greenbarn]

I just drove to my shop and brought back my mityvac, and it worked as designed on my bike.  The bleeding took about 10 minutes.  Here's what I did.  I'll try to highlight a few things that can go wrong, making this effort unsuccessful.

1) Hook up a hose(s) between bleeder and mityvac.  It's important to find a hose that fits tight on the bleeder so's it can draw vacuum on it and pull fluid.  There should be several adapters in the kit. If you don't get a good seal here, you won't pull fluid through the system, and you won't get the air out. 
2)  Fill the brake fluid reservoir with clean fluid - I sucked all the old stuff out with a big syringe to minimize the amount I had to pump through to get all the old out.

3) It's important to not let the reservoir go dry - if it does you start over with air in the system.  The thing holds surprisingly little fluid - I sucked it dry twice.  It helps to have someone watch it and keep it full.

4) Open the bleeder - a quarter to half turn is sufficient - just enough to let fluid out - any more and it takes too long to close it.

5) Draw vacuum on the mity vac - you can tell if it's working if you get fluid coming out of the bleeder into the hose (hopefully you have a clear hose), and eventually into the mity-vac collection chamber.

6) Draw through enough fluid to get all the old stuff out.  MAKE SURE you keep the m/c full.  You need to draw a few ounces of fluid through as rapidly as possible in order to try to clear the air out.

7) Tighten the bleeder.  Take off the mity-vac.

refill the reservoir (if needed).  Pump the brake handle a few times.  You should have "pedal".  If not, pump it a few times.

This is what I just did on mine.  I didn't have solid pedal first pump, but it was because I just had the caliper off earlier - it takes a couple of pumps to tighten the pads up on the rotor.

Hope this works for you D1.  This is actually a lot easier than making a mess taking off the line at the m/c. 

[Drift1]

Thanks Greenbarn I'll try the pump and hold method.Really don't want to resort to the mess of break fluid all over that's for sure.I'll try later on tonight and report back,time permitting of course.Thanks for the help.

[greenbarn]

I had the same problem with my front brake yesterday evening.  sucked out all the old fluid, and must have gotten some air in it.  I'm still having the problem, by the way, as didn't have any help and I haven't fixed it yet.  I'm planning to get the mity-vac from work this afternoon and give it a try.  When i get it fixed I'll post what I've found.

In the mean time, here are some things to try.  At my work, we repair cars.  We bleed brakes 1-5 times a week, so this is a recurrent problem.  99% of the time, we never have to use anything but pumping the brake pedal.  (takes 2 people of course - which I don't have right now).   I've ony had this problem a few times on bikes/quads/ etc, and once before I've had to resort to the vac pump as well, on a quad I suspected the cylinder wasn't working too well.  So here are a couple of things to try, if you have a helper.

Have someone pump the brake lever several times then hold the lever in.  Then release and tighten the bleeder.  Repeat. Repeat. Repeat several times - it's hard to get air out sometimes.

You can also try to bleed the master cylinder by itself - take the brake line off of the m/c and put your finger over it tight.  Pump the brake lever several times.  It should eventually get the air out and spray fluid all over the place, pushing by your finger.  Then put the line back on and bleed down at the bleeder.  PROBLEM with this, on a bike,  is that it makes a MESS.

The mity vac really should work either by sucking the fluid down through the line, or another method is pumping fresh fluid up through the line, in order to flush out entrapped air.

If one of these methods doesnt' work, something is probably wrong with your master cylinder.

DON'T FORGET to clean off all the brake fluid on your bike - it eats paint.

When I get time either this evening or tomorrow evening, I need to get mine finished, and I'll post the method that worked.

[Drift1]

Guys once again I'm in nee d of help here  ???I started the brake fluid change this morning with the mortgage-vac.The rear job went nice and smooth.I saw a previous post on widgets bleeder line to do first front or back.So that was a big help.I then moved onto the front fluid change and figured it would take 15 min.tops...WRONG...I did the same procedure with the mity-vac to the front as I did the rear.I've been trying to get the air out of the system,(with the help of Aidan)with no luck.Tried opening the bleeder,squeeze the brake in,close bleeder let brake out...till Aidan gave up on it....about 20minutes of doing this.Poor kid told me I don't gave to fire him because I quite....couldn't do anything,but laugh.Took a little break from the job to clear my witts then got mama to do the procedure with no luck!All I'm getting is a dead brake handle.It was done before changing the fluid...what am I doing wrong here?