OK - I put the new braided cable on for front brakes, and am bleeding as per the manual, but it does not seem to be working. Or, perhaps I'm impatient. How many times do you have to do the routine - Squeeze Lever & hold, open fitting to let out air, close fitting, release lever, & repeat... I've probably done it 80 times and the brakes are not firming up????

 

Did you replace the washers on the banjo bolts???? If not, you might be leaking air in the system....

Are you getting ANY fluid through the bleeder nipple when you open it???? If not, you are not opening it enough, or you are out of fluid in the master Cylinder.....

Try this.... pump the lever 8-10 times and hold...(Really this is a 2 person job).. Open the bleeder until the brake lever hits the grip and close (Hopefully you got a puff of air or a shot of fluid).... Do that 2 times... If you don't feel anything,you aren't opening it enough for the trapped air to escape.....

 

I've always used a mighty vac pump when bleeding the brakes. Makes the job go a lot quicker. If it's not firming up you've still got air somewhere. Make sure you don't let the fluid in the master cylinder get too low. It is also possible that there is air trapped in the banjo. If that is the case you may have to reverse bleed them to get that out. If that is the case (I'm not sure on harleys) but on my old bike the banjo was a high point in the system and you had to lean the bike over to left then pull the lever in about an inch then crack open the banjo bolt just enough to let a bit of the fluid run out then retighen it while you're still holding in the brake lever. Then let the lever out. Much easier with two people. You want to make sure you have all the painted areas of the bike covered up because hydraulic fluid can ruin your paint pretty quick.

 

I have had the same problems before while going through a whole bottle of fluid> Last time I bled my brakes went a lot easier I used a piece of clear tubing over the bleeder and ran it into a jar of brake fluid..pumped and held a couple of times...had brakes but still spongy and did it again and everything pressurized

 

Thanks guys. Been doing some reading... Looks like this is normal, and I need to try reverse bleeding....

 

Trying turning the bars hard rightand just flicking the lever quickly, not moving the lever very much. If you do this and a ring of air bubbles come to the surface you know there is air trapped somewhere in the system. Just keep flicking the lever quickly only moving it a verylittle wayuntil the air bubbles go. Then you should be right....

 

This is the way to do it.Just keep slightly moving moving the lever and watch all the bubbles come to the top of the reservoir.Pretty soon you'll get some firmness on the the lever.Then you can do a regular bleed and it done.

 

I attached a Syringe filled with brake fluid with a piece of plastic tubing to the bleeder and reversed filled (through the bleeder) until the fluid came up into the master cylinder. Took about 5 minutes!
I tried using a mighty vac as well as a dozen other ways with no luck. The syringe method worked very well. Brake is very firm!

 

I had the same problem on my new bike when I installed diamondback lines and chrome master cylinder. I found if you open the bolt at the resevoir and pump the handle until a little fluid comes out, that made all the difference, then bleed as you normally would. Be careful not to get any fluid on the paint. I tried and tried mine and could never get any fluid in the line. Once I broke the upper bolt free, it pumped some fluid and was quick after that. Hope that helps.

 

Thank guys!