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Yamaha Tech Originally the Yamaha XT600 Tech Forum, due to demand it now includes all Yamaha's technical / mechanical / repair / preparation questions.
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  #1  
Old 20 May 2010
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bleeding front brakes
hello everyone
I have a 1984 xt 600. I bought a new front master cylinder. I have tryed to bleed it like I would on a car, pump it up, hold it, crack the bleeder and tighten it back up, done this over and over but I am not getting any pressure built up.
Is their a trick or something I need to do different on a bike?
thank you
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Old 20 May 2010
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You need to open the bleeder then pump the lever fairly quickly(topping-up the fluid at the same time) until all the air is expelled from the bleeder, & then close the bleeder.
The way you were doing it was allowing the air to float/travel back up the hose after each time you closed the bleeder.
Being a new master cylinder you may have to bleed that first.
Bob
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Old 20 May 2010
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Hey all!

If I recon well, when I last did this same thing what I did was open the master cylinder, put oil in it, squeezed the brake lever a a lot of times and kept topping up the oil until very little air came out over the top of opened master cylinder.

Only then did I went for the squeeze squeeze squeeze squeeze and keep squeezed and loosen the banjo on the brake caliper just a wee bit for air to come out and retighten it by hand....

I repeated this untill it streamed out some highspeed jets of oil a couple of times and tightened and assembled everything back together....


It's a very easy thing to do I guess..

Vando
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Old 20 May 2010
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The way its done is fill the master cylinder give a few pumps of the lever then open the bleed nipple pull the lever in slowly until it touches the bar hold it there and tighten the bleed nipple, repeat as needed. If you still have no luck after 5 minutes or so then acquire a syringe place a piece of tube on it and attach it to the bleed nipple draw the fluid through (dont forget to close the nipple if you have to push the syringe in) make sure you keep the fluid topped up. In the workshop we have a vacuum tool for the job but the syringe is cheaper and will do the same job (the bigger the syringe the better). Another tip is to push the pistons back in the calliper as this removes the space that air can fill.
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Old 20 May 2010
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I normally suck the fluid through from the reservoir through the caliper using a large syring & battery breather tube, you just need to keep an on the fluid level in the reservoir unless you want to experience the brake bleeding equivalent of Groundhog Day........

Once bled, pump the lever a few times & cable tie (or similar) the lever back to the bar's and leave overnight. Any air trapped in the system will hopefull migrate to the highest point of the caliper i.e. the bleed nipple. Open the nipple, bleed the air & check fluid level again. I've sometimes sucked the fluid out of the reservoir with the syringe & pumped it back in to the caliper via the bleed nipple and up in to the nearly empty reservoir, taking any trapped air with the flow.

Don't push the pistons all the way back in to the caliper as there comes a point whereby there's not enough fluid behind the piston to move it (DAMHIK).
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Old 20 May 2010
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The best £40 you will EVER EVER spend.

Mityvac Brake Bleed Kit

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  #7  
Old 20 May 2010
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another brake bleeding tool as ted says if your going to bleed brakes regularly it will be the best money you spend but as a one off go for the syringe

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