I finished the brake job yesterday...well almost. I have replaced all four rotors, calipers ; pads and rubber flex hoses. Didn't bleed them as my assistant had gone to bed. (Wife). I thought I had pretty well read most information on brake jobs on this form and proceeded. The front brakes went on as expected. The rear brakes gave me more of a problem. I could not get the caliper to seat properly so I could put the wedges in. 2 hours of toil and sweat and no success. I found that the piston was jamming on something on the way in. I could not seem to apply sufficient pressure and find a good tool to turn it in further. I called my mechanic friend and he said he could lend me a Caliper Tool Kit.



He told me to make sure that I left the slot in the piston perpendicular so it lines up with the bump on the caliper. He said this allows the caliper to slide on past the bump on the back of the brake pad. I had not know this and I know this has probrably been posted here. I had the slot turned verticle and the caliper was jamming on the bump on the pad!

Tips I learned. Have a propane torch. I keep a garden hose handy when using it. Use liquid wrench generously over days. Get the right tools. Read and search this form. Get spare cooper washers as the flex hose didnt supply them. Clean and return tools you use promptly with a coffee in hand. Have beer in the fridge. Patience and persistance a must

Awesome job!

I did the same thing a month ago.
One thing I did was get some speed bleeders from AR.

http://www.autoricambi.us/product/BR0-0 ... RFORMANCE/

This made bleeding easy and I did it myself.
No need to get the wife involved.

Dougieb

Thanks. I do like the idea for the speed bleeders.

Overnight company just left and have cleaned up from the family gathering so I started the bleeding of the brake job. Everything going well until I tried to loosen the front R bleeder. It is ceased. I had purchased rear calipers from AR and the bleeders but the front 2 calipers were fine. Rookie mistake not to check the bleeders. one was ok the other not. From what I understand penetrating fluid will not work. The best way of extraction is to tap it and the caliper to loosen it from it's seating. It is shaped to seat at the bottom. To make it more difficult the PO has rounded the bleeder head so I have a problem getting a grip on it with a wrench.

Question: Can I bleed the brakes with 1 ceased bleeder?

You can bleed what you have, but being as you had everything apart you will most likely have too much air in the system for it too work. If you end up taking that right caliper back off again you will end up loosing fluid and have to start all over again. I would just wait until everything is ready to go.

Thanks for the advice. I will take the R F caliper off and replace the bleeder. Reassemble and move forward with the bleed process.

the bleeders can rust into place and wd-40 or pb blaster will help with the removal. If the hex has been rounded off, use vice-grips to get it out and then replace it. When trying to get it loose, be cautious. It is easy to break them off.