Filling a brakes system

[Hal Beatty]

Gravity bleeding will work well; if the master cyl. is firewall mounted, not so much for under the floor units.

I've messed around with pressure bleeders and using the Mityvac over the years along with the "helper"... best thing I've found are Speedbleeders. Put a set on my '40 and it was the easiest and least messy by far. But YMMV

 

[38bill]

I have both a Mityvac vacuum unit and a Motive Products pressure bleeder. The pressure bleeder works better than the vacuum bleeder. My Mityvac sucks air around the brake valve no matter what I do so I always see air bubbles. The pressure bleeder pushes the fluid out so the only bubbles you see is the air in the brake line making it easy to tell when the line is free of air. In addition the pressure bleeder doesn't need a air source so you don't need power and an air hose. The purchase price of both units was very sim and you can even build your of pressure bleeder using a 1 gallon sprayer if your handy.

 

[tubman]

I had a "Mity-Vac" and it never worked for me. I now use "Speed-Bleeders" and am another enthusiastic supporter.

 

[GB SISSON]

I know this doesn't answer the OP's question, but recently a 30 year old friend helped me install a rear axle assembly in my F350 because he has a lift. Well when it came time to bleed the rear brakes he grabs this thing that looked like an anti theft 'club' that fit between the steering wheel and brake pedal. Next he hooks an air hose to a fitting on it and a jumper to the battery. After that he pulls out a little wireless key fob switch which activates an air switch solenoid. It was sort of like a wife that never gets tired of stepping on and off the pedal. All done in about a minute.

 

[V8 Bob]

The power bleeder (Bendix) I used in the past had a diaphragm between the fluid and the pressurized air; I was taught this was to keep from entraining air into the fluid.

The diaphragm pressure bleeders are the correct (and best) tool for brake bleeding, keeping air separate from the fluid.

 

[Talkwrench]

I just used speed-bleeders and never had an issue with bleeding when I replaced brake parts. Do it yourself .