Help with bleeding brakes

x2!

so two things wrong with the scenario..one he only bled the fronts.. and two, he didnt close off the valve before letting up on the brake pedal..

wow. but the spindle install is much more challenging!!

 

do not reuse the brake fluid.

 

anouther tip, DON'T use a cresent wrench when working on a car. use the proper sized wrench. and when working on brakes, they make a six point boxed wrench with a little cut out so you can fit it over the hose.

cresent wrenchs round just about everything they come in contact with. its one of the worst tools ever invented.

edit, its called a flare wrench

 

uh..did your "spindles" already have the bearing in them?

 

Perhaps I used the wrong words. By cresent wrench I did not mean an adjustable type wrench. I hate those as well. I did in fact use a proper 10mm fixed size wrench.. Monkey wrench??? Not sure the name sorry Still the nut rounded off on me. The wrench you show in this pixture looks like a much better tool for the job

 

My spindles did not already have the bearing in them. The bearing hub assembly must be transferred over from the factory spindles. That was relatively simple to do. Luckily I did not damage the ABS sensors.. yay I heard that can be easy to do.

 

I see in your picture the guy is using a 7/16. Wouldn't the toyota nuts be metric?
I tried to find a standard wrench that might fit even better but 10mm was the best I could find. Wasn't what I would call a snug fit though.

 

brake lines are indeed a pita to get a good grip on with a regular wrench, hence the flare wrench to get extra grip. i've rounded a few thru the years even with flares.

thats just a random picture flare wrench. i've not played with my brakes. i would assume it would be a metric number as well.

as for the wrench you used, basic wrenchs are just wrenchs. either open end or boxed end.

i'm so glad you didn't use a cresent.

 

I'm not at all an expert in the automotive field, but if I've learned anything at all, it's that adjustable cresent wrenches are bad news. I always try to use the right size.

 

brake line ends are a softer material..brass? anyways, the softer material helps it seal tightly. the downside? they strip easy. the only method is to use a flared end wrench. flared end wrenches are typically short..so you dont over tighten the fastener.

 

that's a good question. brass seems harder and the wrong color. its defiantly a softer metal than what most nuts and bolts are made of.

i've run across nickle alloy but can't seem to find a defenitive answer.

 

Okay, so I put four bottles of brake fluid through my system. I bled fluid at least ten times through every bleeder valve. The pedal seems solid until I start my truck. Than the pedal feels gushy again. It's good enough that I can still drive the truck but it's definitely not right. What else can I do? I'll feel stupid if I have to take this to a shop.

 

you did bleed correctly? ie, open bleeder valve, push pedal to floor, hold pedal on floor, close valve? back right, back left, front right, front left?


i guess the other question is, are all the nuts and bolts tight where you put your extended brake lines?

 

Check out speedbleeders. They make bleeding brakes an easy, one-person job.

Derek V

 

Yes sir. I did the procedure exactly as you said. My buddy came over and gave me a hand.

There must be air trapped somewhere. What else can I do?

 

Never heard of them. I'll take a look.

 

Hey those are pretty cool. But I don't think they will solve my issue. I pumped a lot of fluid through my lines last night using the old fashioned; two person method, and nothing changed. It would seem to me that the air would rise through the lines and not want to come down to the bleeder. Is there a way to bleed air from some other location?

 

If it feels safe enough, might want to try driving it a bit to mix it up, warm it up, loosen it up, and try again. A road bump or two may help burp it loose....

 

It's worth a shot. One of the other guys on this forum is a service tech for BMW and he's going to bring home his shop bleeder tool. Hopefully we can rectify the matter using his special tools.

 

I was going to suggest flushing the brake system with something like the motive products brake flusher. It sounds like whatever your friend is bringing over is probably similar.