One man brake bleeders

[colcol]

Hello there, recently the clutch master cylinder on the 33 started to pack up, but i was still able to drive it, so for the repair i decided to order a one man brake bleeder off ebay in preparation for the repair.
I purchased a good Kincrome brand, it was about $27 with $9 delivery, but in the meantime, i purchased the clutch master cylinder, but the Kincrome one hadn't arrived, so rather than wait and have my car break down, i was driving past Supercheap, so i had a look at getting a cheap Supercheap brand just to do the job, it was $12, and it was a small bottle with a magnet on it to hold the bottle on some steel to stop it falling over and a few tubes and adaptors for the various bleed nipples.
I have been wary of one man bleeding kits, as i had one that has the tube with a valve in it, that opens under pressure [or doesn't open under pressure], and then closes, or thats the theory, cause i could never get them to work properly.
The Supercheap one man bleeder worked a treat, when i bled the cluch master and slave cylinder, i had to empty it about twice, but it didn't leak, and it got rid of all the air bubbles.
Wrapped with the sucess of the bleeder, i decided to bleed the brake system, as you should do it about every 2 years or whenever you undertake hydraulic repairs, it worked very well.
The clutch master cylinder replaced was a original Benditalia, and was 29 years old with about 300,000 klms on it, you know what Alfa Romeo's..... are like, they never last.
The following day, the Kincrome one man bleeder turned up,.....it was exactly the same as the Supercheap, except, it had a stronger magnet, so if you are willing to pay an extra $14 for a stronger magnet, then buy the Kincrome, Colin.

[Evan Bottcher]

My 'one man' bleeding approach is to ask Fiona to help me. 

[Mick A]

I have a blue point vacuum bleed bottle that seems to work really well. Especially for when you are flushing the system to replenish with fresh fluid. You can lock the trigger so it just does it's thing while you top up the reservoir accordingly. Used it at the track the other day and worked very well bleeding the brakes on the race car between a session.

Here's a review if anyone is interested.

http://www.superstreetbike.com/hotproducts/1303_sbkp_snap_on_tools_brake_bleeder_used_and_reviewed/

[Duk]

Col, I have the exact same type of '1 man bleeder' and agree that they are a fantastic little tool. Very simple, yet effective and I've used it of 3 set of brake upgrades on 3 different cars, plus a clutch bleed.
It will be interesting to see how well it goes with the 75's clutch. I had no end of trouble with my old Giulietta's clutch back in the day, when I tried to bleed that. I ended up taking it too the local brake specialist. 

[MD]

The cheapest one man bleeder is a length of rubber tube with an ID that fits the bleeder valve snugly.
Install a ball bearing in one end and leave the other to fit over the bleeder nipple. At the ball end about 50mm away, make a 12mm long razor blade slit.

How does it work?

Pressure in the tube when you depress the brake pedal causes fluid to push out via the slit in the tube. As soon as you stop pushing the pedal, the pressure subsides and the slit closes in on itself thereby sealing off any air return.ie. it's a one way valve.
Naturally you fit the tube to an open bleeder nipple.
When the jobs is done, tighten up the bleeder nipple and remove the tube in that order.

Cost. About $2 or less if you have some tube around and an old sharp razor blade.

You blokes using electric razors are basically screwed. 

[AikenDrum105]

a smear of brake grease on the threads of the bleed nipple stops it pulling air past the threads when the nipple is loose too...

[Beatle]

a smear of brake grease on the threads of the bleed nipple stops it pulling air past the threads when the nipple is loose too...

That's the problem I find with my vacuum bleeder.  It may be pulling air free fluid through the pipes but as it draws air through the threads of the nipple I an never be certain the system is actually bled.  But these vac bleeders are handy for problem bleeders.

Personally I think the best method is a pressure bleeder on the reservoir, but they do risk popping the res off the M/cyl.

[colcol]

I find when bleeding the brakes on my own, open the bleed nipple to start off with and make sure it passes a fair bit of brake fluid, so that you get the fresh stuff through the line quickly, but it will leak a bit of air through the loose nipple, after you have got the fresh stuff through, tighten the nipple, so that you restrict the flow a bit and the nipple will be tighter and less air will leak through, but the pedal will be harder to push, but i need the exercise anyway, i always try to use a different brand of brake fluid everytime i bleed the brakes and clutch, so if its green brake fluid thats the old stuff, and you are pouring in blue or brown brake fluid, when there is a color change at the nipple, you have the new brake fluid, but this time the Repco and Castrol fluids were the same color, as that day, the brake fluid factory were using brown dye, Colin.