Oh man, bleeding brakes is quite the event apparently lol. If I can get a unanimous way of doing it, that'd be awesome. 5 Dollar kit seems pretty neat though. I don't care about how long it takes the first time, as long as I can learn to get it right I'll improvise later.

 

No no no no. I'm going to give you my advice here but doing a brake job you like this you are doing so at your own risk. I am not responsible if anything goes wrong. Make sure the resivor under the hood is full of fluid and preferably the cap on. Keep checking this and don't let it get down to the min line or for sure don't let it get past it. Now have someone pump the breaks probably 4 or 5 times then hold it down the the floor. As they hold it down open the bleeder valve and watch the fluid shoot out. Then tighten it back up and tell the person holding the brakes down it's okay to let off. If they let off the pedal while that bleeder valve is open it will just suck air back in. If you want to bleed them to get new fluid in them just keep bleeding them until the fluid looks good coming out. Do this for each wheel. I seemed to be able to have people pump the brakes and open the bleeder screw about 3 times before filling the resivor up but you want to check it and see how it does for you as you don't want to let it get low or it will just suck a ton of air into the system. Once you stop seeing bubbles coming out of the line you should be okay to go. I'd make sure you didn't crowd anyone with it until you got used to it and make sure the brakes worked. I like to go back and bleed them again to double check them after having driven it for a little while. Sometimes it will trap air in the top of the caliper that has to work it's way down.

 

It seems like I need 3 people for this?

Oh, I typed accelerator, but I hope you know I meant brake, lol.

So I'm basically using my brake pad as the vacuum. Opening the bleeder, pushing the pad forces fluid out, close it back up when empty, then say it's ok to let off the brake. Repeat 3-4 times. Make sure the reservoir doesn't run low. One person to watch the fluid, one person to watch the resevoir, and one to pump.

Sorry, I'm one of those "watch me do this" then I got it kinda guys. Hard for me to parallel words with actions; pictures help me out (I reference DIY Writeup's with pictures and try to retain them to memory). I won't be doing this for about 3-4 weeks so hopefully I'll have that "Eureka!" affect and get it. Till then I'll be searching for some pictures to correlate with words.

 

There is a good chance you will need to do it more than 3-4 times per wheel. I got about 3 times before I had to refill my resivor. Just keep doing it until no more air is coming out in the lines. If there is air you should be able to see it in the clear tube. Thats why we said get a clear tube. You can have a 3rd person check and add fluid or you can just run back and forth yourself like I did.

 

Oh well I could run back and forth. Didn't know how instantaneous this would occur. so you physically see the bubbles? I know I'm proving I've never done this, right? lol.

 

Yes you can usually physically see them. Sometimes they are moving soo fast you don't see them until you close the bleeder valve and you can then see them when they stop in the tube. Now be aware you are more than likely not going to get all the little bubbles out just make sure all the big ones are gone. Those little streams of little bubbles are something I've never heard of anyone being able to get completely out and I along with others I know have tried.

 

I see, well I'll keep my eyes on that. So do you use the brake fluid that you pumped out? or just replace it with new fluid? If I understand correctly, you pump new fluid out until you see it through each caliper/drum.

 

I use new fluid. I'd never re use the old fluid. Now times after you get clear fluid all the way through if you still have air in them you might want to start bleeding it out into a clean container and reuse it. Some do I personally just keep putting new in straight out the bottle.

 

i just found a bad caliper on my ram, now after i replaced it, i cant get any pressure for brakes, bleed them to death, least the fronts, didnt touch the backs, any suggestions?

 

Its always a good idea to bleed all 4 , starting with the fatherest away (pass rear) then (driver rear) , pass front finish with the driver front....