i recently replaced all my brake line, wheel cylinders and calipers, do i really need to take the truck to the dealership to get them bled with the DRB tool?

 

Nope, you can bleed the brakes yourself with the help of a buddy to push the brake peddle down and you watch for air bubbles. It's very easy.

 

bleeding brakes is super simple.

1. Fill the master cyl.
2. Have a buddy ready in the cab.
3. On the brake farthest from the master crack open the bleeder
4. Have buddy push down on the brake & hold it
5. close bleeder
6. have buddy release brake
7. repeat.

Make sure you stop after 3 or 4 pumps & put more brake juice in the master or you will push bubbles through the lines.

Once you have good flow out of the bleeder move the the next brake always working farthest to nearest.


If you have lots of time & no buddies - there is an old mechanics trick.

Crack open all the bleeders & let the truck sit. Gravety will pull the fluid down to the brakes over time (hour or so) Just don't let the master go dry or again - bubbles.

Good luck.

 

 

Just be glad you dont have 4 pistons at each corner. Took 2 gallons (yes, gallons) of brake fluid to get all 16 bled on our camaro. Street vehicles usually are 2-3 cans, in my experience, since they are all 1 piston units.

 

i only ask because the haynes book says that if i have 4 wheel ABS its a must that i take it to the dealership. we have manually bled them 3 or 4 times and no more brake light, but still a little spongy.

 

I was under the impression that it was only necessary to do it the fancy stealership way when you replaced something in the engine bay that had sensitive functions. However, you only replaced things down stream so it doesn't seem like it'd be an issue. Did you put saran wrap between your brake fluid cap and reservoir before you took stuff off? I only ask because usually this helps keep a vacuum and helps preserve fluid. However, if you did just take everything off and the system's fluid was allowed to run out of all 4 corners of the vehicle, then yeah, you will have air in all of the system and not just the corners.

I'd suggest changing the brake fluid, but you have pretty much done that already lol

 

i had a blown brake line and decided to all the steel lines. the cylinders were done because the bleeders screws snapped and the calipers were just cause i wanted to. so yea, there was a lot of air in the system. so i should make the appointment?

 

They make vacuum tools that will suck out the air and moisture and put fluid in its place. Might be cheaper than the stealership. Check into what a local shop would charge.

 

one dealership near me said $85. i didn't find that all that unreasonable.