Ol-dodge 1992

Afternoon gents.... haven’t been around for a while... life gets real busy sometimes!

92 W250 CTD no breaks!

I’ve learned to properly diagnose problems before you start throwing parts at it so here goes ...

Breaks have never been great. Went out hunting on Thursday and noticed the pedal was falling away ... by the time I got home I had to stomp it almost through the floorboard to stop ... the rear tires would locking up at this point. Red break light acting wonky... on solid sometime, flickering sometimes, off sometimes

I have done nothing yet except check the fluid and both chambers are topped up... maybe 1/4” low

First thing I’m gonna do is jack up rear and check that shoes are adjusted to just scrape the drum when hand spun... yes or no

Second thing I’m going to do is gravity bleed all four tires ... rr lr rf lf ... I don’t have access to helper so the press/hold pedal process is out of question right now... yes or no

Now my question is ... do I open all bleeders , leave the break pedal up and just keep the fluid topped up so air doesn’t get in lines?

... or ...

Do I open all bleeders and pump pedal ... scotch it in the down position... etc... and then keep fluid topped up?

I know there are many more steps and possibilities of failures in the break system but these are the first two things I’m going to try.

Any suggestions and can someone detail the proper way to gravity bleed

Thanks in advance, SD

maybe368

When you gravity bleed, which I recommend, you use the same bleed order, RWAL valve first, RR, LR, RF, LF. Open the bleeder valve with the cap off of the master cylinder. If the system is empty, it can take a few minutes for the fluid to show up, but it does. Also, make sure that the rear brakes are adjusted properly, this is very important...Mark edit:To be clear, there is no brake pedal pumping...

Ol-dodge 1992

Thank you sir ... I’m gonna look at this tomorrow evening after work

thrashingcows

I have been bleeding my brakes on my vehicles by myself for years. I use an old clear plastic water bottle, with cap, then a 2+ foot length of old vacuum hose. Drill a hole in the cap small enough to fit the vacuum hose in tightly. Then drill another small hole near the neck of the water bottle as a vent. Feed the vacuum hose into the water bottle with the end just above the bottom. Your now ready to bleed your brakes.

I put a small amount of clean fluid in the bottom of the bottle, then loosen the bleeder screw and pop the vacuum line on over the end. You can now start pumping the pedal. I pump several times, then let gravity bleed for several minutes before tightening up the bleeder.

just work your away around as Mark mentioned and you should be golden.

Mexstan

I have done the same thing myself and it works very well and does not take very long. I use a 1 quart clear plastic container, the type used for take away foods. Also use a some 1/4" clear plastic hose. Some bleeders may need a 5"16 hose. Just drill a hole a tiny bit smaller than the hose in the lid and force the hose through until it just touches the bottom of the container. Punch a tiny hole in the lid for a breather. The container will tend to fall over when empty, so just place a weight on top of it, like a rock or a hammer. Open the bleeder, check that the master cylinder is full and give 5 or 6 slow pumps on pedal, all the way down to the floor. Top up the master cylinder and repeat until you have clean fluid coming out. Close the bleeder and go on to the rest of the brakes. Total time 15 - 20 minutes for all 4 brakes.
BTW, make sure that you use the right kind of brake fluid for your vehicle.

mknittle

I put Teflon tape on the threads on the bleeders to prevent air from entering there.

Ol-dodge 1992

Thank you fellas... gathering “parts” to make my one man bleeder bottle!!! Seems simple... just keep the MC full of DOT 3 fluid!

I’ll post back and let ya know how it turns out

SD

bigragu

Shane, if you decide to use any type of solo bleed, with the one way check valve, the gravity style of bleeding will not work, ok. Especially with those Earl solo bleeders. I tried using a hand mighty vac on those, to try and draw out any remaining air bubbles, but those one way springs on those Earl solo bleeders are too strong. So what I did was remove the Earls bleeders once I got 99% of the air out. Then swapped in standard bleeders, and pulled the remaining tiny bubbles out with the Mighty-Vac.

Ol-dodge 1992

Bigragu... I understand.

I’m gonna order the earls bleeders ... shipping to the middle of nowhere Alberta will take a week to ten days plus exchange rate ...

The first day I can work on truck is Friday so I’ll adjust the rears and then gravity bleed the system and install the earls bleeders when they come...

I’m assuming it is fine to leave the earls bleeders installed just like any other bleeder and run them on the truck ... or are they just for bleeding and then you put stock ones back in?

SD

bigragu

They stay permanently on