Following the directions in the service manual, my '06 night train won't build up any pressure nor show much for progress with bleeding the front brake. I just put new black perl magnum front brake lines on it. Anyone have any experience with this and might have an idea of what I'm overlooking? Or does it just take that long to finally get some fluid coming out the bleeder valve?

 

I haven't done this yet to my Night Train but I did a job like yours a long time ago on the 86 I had; I remember it took a lot of pumps to finally get the fluid coming through and then get all of the air out. That's why bleeder tools help cut down the time.

 

This is what you do.Fill the reservoir leave the cap off.Keep the bleeder valve closed.Now gently ,but quickly barley squeeze the brake handle.Just kind of feather it,you'll notice tiny bubbles coming to the top of the reservoir.The air naturally wants to float to the top.Keep doing it,squeeze,squeeze,squeeze.Pretty soon you'll nootice the handle geting firmer.Keep it up til it's nice and firm,then squirt a little bit out the bleeder the conventional way and you're done.You may have to flickor tap the brake line a time or two with you finger to dislodge any stuck bubbles.Try it It WILL work.

 

I'm going to replace my master cylinder today in the front. I bought speedbleeders and it made the rear brake bleeding a cakewalk, hopefully will be the same on the front. Speedbleeders allow you to open the bleeder valve quarter turn and allow you to pump, refill, pump without closing it. Very cheap and worth the money.

speedbleeders.com

Dale

 

DR. Greenthumb,

I spent a few minutes slowly feathering the brake, and eventually the air bubbles stopped coming up. I'm not getting any pressure on the brake lever though. It still can go full travel with no added pressure. Do I just need to keep pumping it for like 10 minutes even though no more air is coming up in the reservoir?

 

I would force the air out with the fluid. With the cap off, open the bleeder valve quarter turn, squeeze the front brake handle and hold it. Then close the bleeder valve and release the front brake. You have to close the bleeder valve so no air gets sucked back in when you release the front brake. Repeat this process over and over until fluid starts squirting out. It will stiffen up as more fluid gets flushed through the brake line and pushes the air out. Make sure you keep fluid in the master cylinder or you push air back int he system. With the valve closed between pumps, you can also tap the brake line and master cylinder to get more bubbles to rise.

Hope this helps.

Dale

 

just keep the master cylinder full of fluid and keep pumping and bleeding. i did the front brake line on my 03 softail when i added apes, and it took about an hour and half to finally get pressure at the lever. trust me eventually out of nowhere the lever will get hard and you realize you were doing it right the whole time. either that or buy a vacuum bleeder and the whole job will take 5 minutes. you can pick one up front harbor freight for about 20 bucks.

 

I picked up a "Mighty Vac" at Auto zone for $25.00 it made the job a lot easier.

 

I just used one of these on my front brakes, which took all but 5 minutes to do from start to finish. It's a air operated brake bleeder, just hooked it up to my compressor on one end then a little hose to my bleeder valve on the other end. Worked perfectly.

 

gunna try mine later mine is a little soft
good advice