Redoing Brakes on FXR

[Antallica]

Hey dudes,

Well she's up and running (looks like shite but works). I need to redo the rear brakes, I had to bleed the system to get the peg etc. off. Now I'm stuck on how the hell to redo it, I kinda tried the XJ ghetto method and I've got a little bit of pressure, but there's obviously air in the system.

So what I'm after is some help on how to do it properly.

RIB it'd be cool if you could give me a hand tomorrow or something dude

Ants.

[pete376403]

If its hard to bleed cos the caliper is lower than the master cylinder, try taking the caliper off, put something between the pads about the same thichness as the disk, and hang the caliper higher than the m/cylinder, eg from the seat, then try bleeding as usual. Make sure the spacer is solid enough not to get squashed.

[Posh Tourer :P]

make sure your master cylinder is full. Then squeeze the rear brake, open the bleed valve, close it again and let off the brake. Then make sure your master cylinder is full. And do it again. Do it lots until you have pressure. It takes ages. Also try leave it for a while and work the brakes to see if you can get air back *up* the line if its stuck near the top.

[merv]

It helps to get some spunky chick to help you. She pulls on the lever, you open up the bleed valve then shut it and tell her to let go of the lever pump up the brakes and then repeat the process. You shouldn't need to remove the caliper or worry about what height its at.

[FROSTY:Me]

Do you know the propper way to bleed brakes?
as in a tube from the bleed nipple to a brake fluid filled container. push down on brake pedal -crack the bleed nipple open etc?
If you do One little cheat i do is to push the lever down and crack the joint you had to take apart. Somethimes there is a stubborn air bubble there that wont shift

[riffer]

Do you know the propper way to bleed brakes?
as in a tube from the bleed nipple to a brake fluid filled container. push down on brake pedal -crack the bleed nipple open etc?
If you do One little cheat i do is to push the lever down and crack the joint you had to take apart. Somethimes there is a stubborn air bubble there that wont shift

Yeah, that was a trick I learnt doing my brakes. Works well.

Another thing is that sometimes you have so many tiny bubbles in the fluid you really need to just leave it overnight. The bubbles seem to settle overnight to one or other end of the hose. In the morning, it takes a few seconds to sort them out.

For something which should be the most easiest thing to do on a bike, they are most irritatingly difficult at times to fix

[Antallica]

Well I tried the 'open valve and press brake, close valve and release brake' to push the air out and.... it worked a charm! Only took five minutes, she was a bit loose at first but after I wheeled her out of the garage and have her a pump she was running better than the front.

Cheers guys.
Ant.