Clutch bleeding

[cvhjkdis]

Found something (maybe worth sharing) when I was putting my engine back in. My clutch hydraulics had pulled in some air somehow, and had to be bled. Tried opening the bleeder screw and gravity bleeding etc.- like anyone would do, It didn't help. Standing back and looking at it for a moment, It seemed that the high point in the system (and where the air would be) would likely be where the hose connected to the master cylinder. I found that cracking open the fitting bolt that holds the clutch hose to the master cylinder and leaning into the clutch lever (then tightening the fitting bolt before releasing the lever) brought the clutch back. It can be done with one hand on the wrench, one holding a rag to catch fluid, and leaning into the lever with a hip. Works on the brake cylinder too. Just remeber to check fluid level first, and keep the cover set on the reservior before moving the clutch lever. Cheers all. <p></p><i></i>

[Nbot]

Allright, I'm game and'll give it a whirl...Do you compress the levers all the way or just half? And do it after the bikes been sitting a bit I suppose....... <p><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:lime;font-size:medium;">Nbot</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>'94 Fizzer Litre</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--></p><i></i>

[cvhjkdis]

No need to let the bike sit, racers bleed hot brakes. The imortant thing is to NOT release the lever before the hose fitting is tightened. ( they're called banjo bolts actually, aint that weird). Yes, depress the lever all the way to the stop. It aint gonn'a hurt anything. If the fitting bolt seems like it doesn't want to break free at first, a sharp forcefull hit on the wrench will usually do the trick without causing any damage. Man, do I feel preachy all of a sudden.<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :soap --><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v209/ ... oapbox.gif ALT=":soap"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[Marcelo]

<br>Hi, mates...<br>I found extremely helpful to use a syringe to vacuum-bleed the clutch from below at the first move. I mean sucking (sorry for the horrendous term <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START |I --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/tired.gif ALT="|I"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> ) fluid+bubbles instead of pushing the fluid down with the lever. After that, refill the reservoir and go on with the conventional pumping method. <br>Hope this helps.... <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :D --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/happy.gif ALT=":D"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>Marc. <p></p><i></i>

[canappa]

this should work, but you have to do some conventional bleed anyway to have an air free sistem. I put teflon band on the tread valve, just to better seal when do the bleed. if you have to do often bleed brakes, clutch etc, just bought on ebay a vacuum pump for $30-40, it really help a lot and have a very clean bleed in few minutes. you need to do a manual bleed anyway to end the job, but few bleed will be enought. and maybe a little bleed after some day of use will complete the job. i bought the mitvac pump on ebay and im happy with it, already used it with 5-6 bike and saved me lot of time. best result obtained with the teflon band on the valve. remeber the best is to change oil every one year to ensure the rotted oil dont damage oil seal and pump pistons, etc. dot 4 or dot 5.1 are the better for road use. dot 5.1 motul should last longer and have higher wet and dry boiling point. but dot 4 bardahl is cheap and work good to me. do not use dot 5 for road use, it have low wet boiling point. <p></p><i></i>

[IceCream Bandit]

I'm glad I saw this thread, I've bled the brakes on over a hundred cars as I'm an Automotive mechanic, but for some reason the front brakes on my ride a impossible to bleed all the air out of them, I've just finished bleeding through a container and a half of dot4 fluid and they're still spongy. I'm off to try the syringe method as I have one sittingn in my toolbox. Hell I'm going to try the other one as well, it's worth a try. <p></p><i></i>

[dvsfzr1000]

I recently added braided stainless lines to my front brake system. Getting all the air out of the system was a bitch. The air bubbles will sit at the highest point in the system, which is where the top banjo bolt attaches to master cylinder. The most effective method is to detach the "c" shaped clamp that holds the master cylinder to the clip on and the little capscrew that holds the reservoir to the top triple and tilt the actual master cylinder back and forth while squeezing the lever and watching inside the reservior for the bubbles to come out. Ride around the block and do the detach and tilt thing again. You will probably be surprised when a few more little bubbles come out. I didn't figure this out myself, my buddy who works in a bike shop let me in on this little secret. <p></p><i></i>