I bought my Dakota about two weeks ago and the brakes were a little spongy, so I wanted to bleed them. I've got a pressure bleeder that I use for my other cars, but the attachment for the fluid reservoir wasn't right for the Dodge. I ordered a new cap for the Dodge reservoir, drilled a hole through it and added fittings for the hose. Strike two. The crappy Dodge cap isn't air tight. Off to Lowes for the parts you see in the pic. The first time I pressurized it, it still leaked some (the way it is set up in the pic). I moved the lower screw clamp down so it was against the reservoir, and presto! Air tight. I had the front brakes bled in 10 minutes.
BTW, my driver's side caliper wouldn't retract, and the piston was cracked and crumbling. Is this a common problem? When I pulled it, the lower mount had been helicoiled. PITA!

 

Yes it is

It’s all too easy to strip out the guide pin holes or cross strip them the problem being if you don’t 100% release the caliper and get it pushed into its chamber it pushes in on the caliper as you are installing the slide pins causing them to go in crooked plus it’s hard to align them properly even with no pressure by the piston not being 100% in/released.
When I do my front brakes I look at it as surgery I always make 100% sure the guide pin holes are clean and the corresponding pin threads are clean then test fit them before I install them to be sure everything is good to go.

I never use thread lock on them and just light hand tighten the pins.

Always be very cautious screwing them in always thinking am I stripping them out is the way to look at it

Replace the bad caliper get new pads check the guide pins make sure they are in good shape if pitted or rusted replace them be sure to use the proper guide pin lube Sil-Glyde.

 

I've used speed bleeders on stuff in the past and liked the way they work.

Best method tho is to buy some beer and ask the neighbor over to help me. Cheapest and most fun by far.

 

Ha ha I agree someone to pump the peddle for you is the best way to do brakes and hold things for ya

 

I think dodges and jeeps have a problem with them stripping. I did 2 on my 98 dakota. Did 1 on 2 different jeeps

 

most slider pins are bull-nosed to guide them in. Ours aren't.

 

Good work!! I usually do most of my own work, so I use this type of tool for my brake work, but because of the adapter problem (every vehicle seems to have a different reservoir shape), I went with the "suck" instead of "blow" style bleeder. This variety has a reservoir that you clamp to the brake cylinder reservoir to supply more fluid when you need it, and then you have a vacuum attachment that you connect to each bleeder valve (one at a time) to pull the fluid through. The disadvantage with this system is that you use more fluid (at least I do) since you can't tell when all the air is out so you tend to suck a bit longer. I haven't had a bad bleed yet using this system.

 

Bled mine with some clear tubing and a plastic bottle. One end went from bleed nipple and other end submerged in brake fluid in the bottle. For the rear brakes, I adjusted rearview mirrors so I could see fluid flow clear and bubble free through tubing, while pumping the brakes. I believe the manual tells you just to gravity bleed (open the nipple and let it run clear)