ldornak

What's the proper sequence for bleeding brakes?

I replaced front pads (hawk), rotors, and calipers. When I replaced the calipers, I did a quick swap from old to new. I did not loose too much fluid from the reservoir. I wanted to make sure I had no air, so I bled all wheels in this sequence:

Rear passenger
Rear driver
Front passenger
Front driver

During the bleed process I noticed the following:

Rear passenger - no air
Rear driver - 10-15 pumps to remove all air
Front passenger - 50+ pumps to remove all air
Front driver - 3 pumps to remove all air

My pedal now feels stiff, but does not seem like the truck is stopping like it should. I want to re-bleed to make sure I removed all of the air, but wanted to make sure I'm bleeing in the correct sequence.

seahawkdodge

It is the correct sequence, longest leg to shortest leg.

One note, make sure you are bleeding the brakes on a FLAT surface, or with the rear tires slightly more elevated than the front.

ldornak

My drive is slightly sloped and I had the truck backed in, so the rear tires were slightly higher, but I did have the front on jackstands and can't remember if the stands raised the front higher than the rear.

Now that I have the front tires back on and you say I have the correct sequence, I'll re-bleed and see what happens.

Busboy

Did you use "factory" pads and de-glaze the rotors? If the ones in there were factory and you installed different ones then the brakes will feel different.

Hercules

I don't know if this would apply to your truck, since I'm assuming it's the 2001.5 you have listed in you sig, but I'll throw it out there anyways. First off, my truck is a '97 with 4 wheel abs. When I was tracking down a brake problem I recently had, I came across a different sequence that was based on whether you have rear wheel abs or 4-wheel abs. I always thought, and have done, the sequence you mentioned. But, the shop manual for my truck, which covers '94 to '98 Rams, states the sequence you mentioned is used for bleeding trucks equiped with rear wheel abs only. It further states the sequence for bleeding 4 wheel abs is different...do the drivers side rear first followed by the passenger side rear. The fronts are done normally. It does not state why. The manual lists the whole sequence from the master cylinder on for both types of abs, but, is presented that way in case you had to replace brake lines causing you to have to bleed the the system starting at the master cylinder or starting from any part in between depending on where you had to replace a line. I'm curious if this difference between sequences is something that was carried on after '98?

madhat

I have always done furthest from the Master first. (rear pass, rear driver, front pass, front driver.)

There may be different ways.... I would ask the dealer to give you a printout of the maintance procedure... they may work with you.

ldornak

As stated in my original post, hawk pads and new rotors. I did wipe down the rotor surface with brake cleaner before installing and I was extra careful not to get any brake grease on the rotors or pad surface.

Hercules, I read my haynes last night and discovered the same thing that you described. But mine says for 4 wheel ABS, to follow the sequence - driver rear, pass rear, driver front, pass front. Maybe that's why it took 50+ pumps on the pass front and only 3 pumps on the driver front.

dennhop

I know this may sound stupid, but I gotta ask, did you have the brake fluid dumping into a can of clean brake fluid, so when it pumped air out of the brake lines, it would suck fluid back it? Again, not trying to insult anyone's intelligence, but some people don't know.....

ldornak

Not a stupid question at all. Yes I did have the clear tube in a clean bottle of fluid.

xtoyz17

Have they gotten better as they've broken in? Can you look up the specs on the hawk pads? Some performance pads are designed to work in certain temperature ranges and while cold they will perform VERY poorly.

01RAMer

The best investment I ever made for this issue, was the purchase of a Power Brake Bleeder, such as those sold through Motiveproducts.com. It easy and eliminates all the problems associated with bleeding

xtoyz17

Which model is it?

blackimpala

I have been working on my own cars/trucks for more years than I want to admit and I just found out about gravity bleeding. Did it on mine last brake job and fluid flush. You can just let one self bleed whale you are working on another one. Best bleed job that I have ever gotten.

Floyd