Bleeding a Clutch/Brake

[BLK]

Did I do something wrong? All I have ever heard in the world is what a pain in the ass it is to bleed your clutch/brake, but when I recently bleed my cluth FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER it couldn't have been easier. Sure, it took a little time but it was nothing near the horror I had braced myself for.

I bought the MightyVac bleeder (got the coolio metal one with carrying case) but after I finished the job I got the feeling that I didn't really need it. Now, I did have a friend helping but all he did was to make sure the resevoir was full and occasionally pumped the clutch - and that is what made me think the bleeder was unnecessary. It occured to me that had I just pumped the lever enough that I would have gotten the same results.

Am I wrong on this? It seemed to me that pumping the lever was a far more efficient way of moving the air/fluid through the system than using the MightyVac to back pressurize it and then wait for the pressure to force out all the bad stuff. Now, seeing how I spent the first 15 minutes using the MightyVac and only towards the end did we start pumping the lever it's hard to tell just what was more effective. As a note I had drained the resevoir completely and using the lever expelled the line of as much of the old fluid as possible before I started the bleeding process. Therefore, I am assuming that there was a lot of air in the system and consequently I am more than willing to conceed that the MightyVac may have made a significant contribution to the timelyness of this process. It's just that when we started pumping the lever it seemed that the volume of air and fluid that was being forced through the system was so much greater.

I guess what I am getting at is: should I return the MightyVac or keep it for future bleedings?

Thanks,
Blk

[Blade]

I would keep it.

[BLK]

I returned it.

My thinking is if I need it next time I will buy it again. But $75 was too much of a hit to take on something I might never use again, let alone didn't really need in the first place.

BLk

[Sven]

I've done the hand-lever method, and the Mighty-Vac method, and the Mighty-Vac was much faster.  I have the normal plastic Mighty-Vac.

[BLK]

Does the plastic one seem like it will hold up? I was contemplating buying the plastic one but thought it might be too suseptable to failure. And while pumping the crap out of the metal one it occured to me that that might indeed be that case. But, if you are having success with multiple uses with the plastic one then I will certainly consider that for the next time if I end up needing to buy another bleeder.

Thanks,
blk

[Jay96B6]

Bleeding the fluid alone doesn't require MightyVac bleeder, but when I was changing the rear brake line, pumping the brake lever wouldn't get the fluid start to flow, so I had to use the bleeder to initiate the flow.

[Sven]

Does the plastic one seem like it will hold up?

Yeah, it's solid, about as good as anything plastic will be.  I've used it a few times and loaned it a few times, with no visible signs of wear.

[AZJAX]

Hey Guys I just swapped out all of my stock rubber brake and clutch lines for some really nice Hel steel braided lines. It took me no time flat (10-15 mins) to bleed all of the lines using a $8.00 eBay reverse brake bleeder.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Reverse-Brake-Bleeder-Kit-Bleed-Vacuum-One-Person-Solo-/270744823988?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3f09a628b4&vxp=mtr

If your not familiar with the process here's a youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBk00597EyE