Going to be doing some brake work soon (rear calipers/pads, rotors), and will be flying solo with this job. Was looking into the best ways to bleed with one person. Wondering if anyone has used speed bleeders and what their opinion is. Saw a few instances around the web where people have stated that the bleeders leaked during normal brake operation, leading to fluid loss. Of course I also thought about a vacuum bleeder. Again, looking around the web people have had mixed results with those as well. Anyone have any advice about this?

 

I would personally find a friend, neighbor or relative to help pump the brakes. speed bleeders and the pressure pump one man bleeder have not ever had good luck with them.

 

Ive had mine on for two years without any problems. I think people run into issues when they use them repeatedly and the coating on the thread comes off and lets them leak.

 

There are several different sizes so you need to make sure you have the right size. Personally, I use a hose into a bottle of brake fluid. It often works just fine to get the air bubbles out. Not to well for flushing a system, but fine if you change a caliper or wheel cylinder.

 

I ended up buying a mityvac after it took 3+ hours to pump the breaks on my Firebird a few weeks ago. Although pumping worked it took to long for me so I broke down and bought the tool. Online reviews look good and my buddy thats a mechanic says he uses something similar at his job.

Here is what I got but I havent had a chance to test it yet:

 

get some clear rubber hose in the pet section at walmart (for like fish tanks),and a empty water bottle. Fill 1/4 bottle with fluid,stick hose on bleed nipple,and whalla. As you pump it pushes out fluid and air,and sucks in only fluid. Keep a eye on the master cylinder and dont turn the nipples more then 1/4 turn or you could get air in it from between the threads of the fittings.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I decided to get the speed bleeders. I ordered them direct from their website, arrived today. Used the application chart on their site. Dorman doesn't seem to carry the right size for the rear brakes, only the front. Is their any difference in quality Dorman vs Speed Bleeder brand? Probably won't have time this weekend to work on it, maybe next week.

 

Heh. Well, attempted to try this out today. Before taking anything apart I checked to make sure that the speed bleeders would fit the calipers...nope! Too small. Calipers are Raybestos Part # RC10994/93QS. Speed Bleeder part # SB1010. Called Speed Bleeder and they're sending me out the next size up to try, no hassles, so pretty happy about that. Just wish I could have gotten this done today.

 

Turns out that each caliper had two different size bleeder screws. And, like an idiot I sent back the SB1010 size Speed Bleeders before checking fitment on both calipers. So I guess the SB1010 is the correct part after all. Since these are re-manufactured calipers, is it possible that the bleeder screw hole in that one caliper was damaged and they tapped out the hole a bit larger? Also, it was a standard thread, versus metric like on the other caliper.

In any case, I said the hell with the Speed Bleeders and got myself a Motive Power Bleeder. Pretty expensive for what it is, but it worked really well. Finished the job tonight, pedal is solid as a rock.

 

2 diff size bleeders? Id been pissed lol. I woulda swapped em out. No sense in that. sounds like what you said,someone stripped one out and they fixed it.