I was bleeding my brakes, and when i got to my driver side rear, i was in the process of tightening the bleeder back up when the slight resistance usually felt when tightening a screw suddenly went away.

At first i thought i had tightened too much and had sheared the head off, but that was not the case. I can completely unscrew the bleeder and remove it, and it looks fine.

After numerous attempts to tighten it by hand failed, I didn't know what else to do besides buy a new bleeder. New bleeders got here, but still the same problem.

Here is what happens:

I begin turning the screw and,at first, i begin to feel the slight resistance usually felt when a screw is..well.. screwing.

But then past a certain point, it just stops getting harder to turn, and instead begins to turn freely again, as if its inside of a smooth opening.

any ideas about what I should do?

is this a minor fix?

These rear brake drums will be the end of me!

 

in the rear it screws into the wheel cylinder, so replace the cylinder and try with a new screw.

it is accessible for removal from the inside of the drum.

drums are a pain but when done and adjusted properly, they will be fine. I haven't touched mine in 2 years other than adjusting the screw every 3-4 months (i'm ocd about it, you probably could adjust them once a year and it'd be fine), and I've had 0 issues.

 

Pull the cylinder and chase the threads with the proper tap. BUT if your going to pull the cylinder you may as well replace it.


Convert to discs before the drums are the end of you. LOL

 

After some more searching, I think replacing the wheel cylinder might solve it. It looks like the bleeder screw goes in through the backing plate, and into the wheel cylinder.

Since i feel resistance at first but then it goes away, this explains it nicely IMO. I must have messed up the threading that the bleeder follows into the wheel cylinder.

Lets see..

 

You guys must've posted your responses while i was typing mine haha. Looks like my guess was correct, thank you guys!

Im definitely adding a disc conversion to my to-do list!