Another Clutch Rebuild Horror Story

[95spfldmax]

'95 Max, Stock clutch & Mostly everything else..............

I had a working clutch when I started but the M/C was seeping at the indexing pin for the lever. Put in a rebuild kit for the M/C & S/C and reused stock line.

I cannot get the sytem to bleed up after many hours of trying & troubleshooting. The M/C doesn't seem to be "pushing" fluid. There's only a couple of parts in there, they went back together correctly but I guess i'm going to disaasemble it just to double check. I also took another M/C off my parts bike but it didn't do anything either. It leads me to believe there might not be anything wrong with my "good" M/C.

I expect some of you to tell me it's air trapped in the system. And I think that has to be the answer. I saw on another thread a suggestion to try filling the M/C, detaching it from the handlebar and rotating it around to release trapped air (i'll have to try this). And saw another suggestion to "reverse" bleed it from S/C up to M/C with a syringe (Has anyone done this with sucess??)

I took the S/C back off and tried to bleed the system with it off the bike and it starts to move (a little bit). So I believe it is OK. It's even a simpler assembly the the M/C.

What do you guys think?? What have I missed?? How many of you had problems bleeding up and how many had no problems? Is this common or just my own fun time???

I'm running out of patience and hydro fluid!! :bang head::bang head::bang head:

 

[95spfldmax]

....also......on a side note........

I vac'd out my brake system M/C's and bled through new fluid front & back with no problems whatsoever. Wish I had the same luck on the clutch side......

 

[hubeerjw]

I haven't done a M/C rebuild yet, but I was wondering if it would be beneficial to put fluid in WHILE you are putting the pistons and seals in. Similar to putting oil in the oil filter when changing your oil. This would minimize the amount of air in the system. It will be messy and keep that stuff away from painted parts, but it might be worth a try?
Jeff

 

[one2dmax]

They can really be bitch to bleed up. Remove the line from the master and route a hose from the outlet to inside section below the fluid level. Once it is moving fluid then re-attach the hose and start your bleed over again on the entire system.

Sean

 

[95spfldmax]

I haven't done a M/C rebuild yet, but I was wondering if it would be beneficial to put fluid in WHILE you are putting the pistons and seals in. Similar to putting oil in the oil filter when changing your oil. This would minimize the amount of air in the system. It will be messy and keep that stuff away from painted parts, but it might be worth a try?
Jeff

First off....I put the new seals in "wet" as per the instructions.

Secondly....My thought is that if everything is working correctly then a few pulls should be enough to evacuate the air from the M/C and a few/several more to come out the S/C. But I'm not moving hardly any fluid and i've indexed the lever something like 30-40 times.........at least.

 

[naughtyG]

I had the same problem when I renewed the fluid in my clutch M/C a few weeks ago - I could not get the bloody thing to bleed at all - the M/C was just doing nothing. :bang head:

Solution:
- get yourself a decent size syringe
- get some clear hose that fits both the syringe tip and the S/C bleed nipple
- remove the bleed nipple and apply teflon tape to its thread, then refit it
- fill the syringe with brake fluid (since you're renewing everything, I recommend using silicon fluid if you aren't already - no more paint stripping or humidity absorption)
- connect the clear hose to the syringe and fill it with fluid
- connect the other end to the bleed nipple
- making sure the bleed nipple is open enough for the fluid to flow through it, reverse-bleed the system by pushing fluid through with the syringe
- watch inside the M/C reservoir as the fluid comes through
- if the fluid is dirty/bubbly, keep going until nice n clear
- syphon out any overflow fluid from the M/C

That'll get the M/C working again - worked a treat on mine when I was about to give up and go splash on a mightyVAC... If you can't get all the bubbles out, at least this will get the system working again, and then you can bleed to usual way as long as you make sure to top up the M/C when needed. On mine I didn't need to - the reverse bleed did the trick just fine! unk:

 

[jfeagins]

Try loosening the banjo bolt where the fluid comes out of the m/c and bleed there first. See if you can get the trapped air to come out that way.

 

[95spfldmax]

Solution:
- get yourself a decent size syringe
- get some clear hose that fits both the syringe tip and the S/C bleed nipple

I called a couple automotive places looking for a syringe. They didn't have any and sounded a bit confused. They kept trying to offer me a vac set-up.

Is this a tool made for this application? Where did you get yours? Hardware store?? :ummm:

Thanks.

 

[naughtyG]

this is how I got mine:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/brake-bleed-fluid-syringe-kits-cbr-yzf-bmw-gsxr-honda_W0QQitemZ250352076780QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Hand_Tools_Equipment?hash=item250352076780&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1301|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

but I'm pretty sure you should be able to find those in any decent hardware store.. Even Home Depot and Lowes may carry them..

A MightyVAC is the proper tool to do this kind of job with (it suck the fluid through the bleed nipple) but it is more expensive.

 

[95spfldmax]

this is how I got mine:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/brake-bleed-fluid-syringe-kits-cbr-yzf-bmw-gsxr-honda_W0QQitemZ250352076780QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Hand_Tools_Equipment?hash=item250352076780&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1301|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

but I'm pretty sure you should be able to find those in any decent hardware store.. Even Home Depot and Lowes may carry them..

A MightyVAC is the proper tool to do this kind of job with (it suck the fluid through the bleed nipple) but it is more expensive.

Those look pretty cool. I found a push-pull type tube i'm going to try tonight. Hope this works. Sooooo many more things I need to get to.......Thanks for all the replies guys!! I appreciate the help......Stay tuned....Later.

 

[maleko89]

Vacuum bleeders do very well. I can do both brakes and clutch in under 30 minutes. Any auto parts store should carry 'em for 20-30 bucks.

 

[red98vmax]

Also, check out harbor freight., if you want inexpensive, should be good enough quality for what you need to do. I don't recommend a lot of their stuff for higher quality needs, tho.

red

 

[m-cman]

My local Harbor Freight has Mighty Vac kits for sale also.

 

[one2dmax]

I got a version for christmas that we saw at sears. It comes with a case and full cast body. The normal mity is plastic and didn't last long under my grip. The steel one ran about $60 in the case.

Sean

 

[m-cman]

Hmm, didn't realize they made plastic ones. Mine is metal. I bet the Harbor Freight one is plastic, knowing their propensity for high quality!

 

[82ndCowboy]

I got a version for christmas that we saw at sears. It comes with a case and full cast body. The normal mity is plastic and didn't last long under my grip. The steel one ran about $60 in the case.

Sean

Exactly what I bought too.
Mightyvac Silverline.
Metal body = repairable
PLUS it's MADE IN THE USA unk:unk:unk: