I cant bleed my brakes

don't hyper extend pistons. clean w/ brake kleen and a soft tooth brush to remove deposits then block the pistons retracted when caliper is off the bike.

never push pistons back into caliper with desposits on them.

also- i went to overhaul a MC on a 93 YZ this weekend. the bore was pitted so i trashed it. i swapped with a MC from an 85 xr500 that was on the ground behind my bench. i cleaned it topped it off, bench bled it, installed it and it was good to go w/o any bleeding what so ever in less than 20 mins. rode it 3 hours this weekend. worked perfect and has a larger resiv., too. i've done MC swaps in the field and on the track like this more than once, due to crashes, with good results.

non-ABS dirtbike brakes are very, very simple hydraulic machanisms. there's only a couple moving parts in the whole system.
when changing something bench bleed it first and when hooking it up to the hose keep both ends topped up w/ fluid and you wont even have to bleed the brakes. if you are sure you have gotten all the air out and still have lack of firmness issues at the lever then you have a bypass in the master cyl. (spongy hoses are rare and very obvious to the naked eye). you wont have an air leak 99% of the time w/o a fluid leak due to the pressure differential the master generates 20-30 times more than atmospheric pressure.

PVDUKE, Please explain "bench bleed". And what are the exact steps to follow when I install a new steel braided front hose tomorrow? Thanks very much.

clamp the master at the bar clamp in a vise with soft jaws/a rag etc...fill it and cycle slowly till some fluid dribbles out. the caliper youll have to get creative with i use a syrigne (sp?) with a rubber end and fill the caliper then cycle it with old pads, dont hyper extend, in it then retract piston back in with a flat blade then repeat to get as much fluid in there are possible.

after the caliper is full, keep your thumb or a something over the hose hole so it wont loose fluid and mount it.

then add the hose and fill it too. then- yer master.

i make sure the master is 100% bled, cap is on, i tip it back so the hose port is up,top that off then the hose port is down with my thumb over it then i make sure the hose is as topped off as much as possible too.
then i bring the two togther fast like. then the master goes way up till the hose is straight for a bit then i mount it on the bar with it turned so the master is the highest point so the air can rise. they key is air follows the path of least resistnace. it will get trapped in high spots or crooks etc...

let it sit for a few so the air can migrate. bleeding should be minmal if at all. you can see the bubbles come up into the master by themselves in most cases.

Hmmmmmm. Thanks anyway. I appreciate your time. Now if you have a few minutes would you come over to my shop? Beer on me!