I changed to a braided front cable on my 05 softail, and during the reassembly/ bleeding, I can't build up any pressure. Even when I take the top banjo bolt out, and squeeze, I only get a trickle of fluid. Any help would be great, as I now can't ride!

 

Too much air! Leave the banjo alone! Tighten it up and forget it. Hook a brake bleed hose to the nipple on the caliper... crack the nipple about quarter turn.... fill up your brake res and let it drain for a while. You might be able to get rid of the bubble that way.... or.... keep filling and keep pumping. You'll get the pressure up eventually. Remember, you have a new cable with no fluid in it! Check for leaks too.

 

How much pumping are we talking about? we worked on it for a good hallf hour

 

It COULD take that long. Remember.. air is very compressable while fluid is not. When I put on my 18 inch apes, it took quite a while before I was getting fluid from the caliper. Just takes patience.... and a lot of filling...

 

Got a vacuum pump? Hook it up on the caliper end and suck the fluid down.... that would work also

 

You really do need a vacuum pump, I recently put chrome master cylinders on two different Harleys and it was much easier to use the vacuum to get things started then to just pump it up from the lever.

 

It's a 10 min. job with a Vacuum pump. That's the only way to go!

 

How much does a vacuum pump go for?

Am I doomed to go to service?

 

Cheap.

MightyVac runs around $40-50

You can probably 'borrow' from an auto parts store. They lend specialty tools at a lot of them now.

You might even buy a junky one for less if you are not planning on using it more than a couple times.

 

I was able to squeeze in for a quickie at the dealer today- paramount HD rocks.

It was a huge bubble in the MC that was holding up. not too pricey either