salad

So I did the ZJ disc brake swap on my XJ and bled the snot outta it. All four corners like 3 or 4 times, in the correct order. Pedal was soft and did not get firmer after pumping a few times (like 6 or so). It was good enough to drive on so I took it on my road trip.

During the trip a bumpstop hit the D/S rear hard line and created a leak. I'm sick and haven't been able to deal with it so I took it to a trusted mechanic today. Line section replaced, he bled the rear again (vise grips were on the soft line from the frame)... aaand it's still as soft as it was before.

99 XJ, C8.25, brand new Centric rotors and friction, salad-refurbished backing plates, Raybestos reman calipers, new Dorman ZJ hoses, new Dorman YJ hose, new axle hard lines. No leaks that I can find.

Is this normal for some kind of components? Did I do something wrong? Or is it really just a matter of bleed it until it's good? Should I buy a vacuum bleeder? Try the gravity bleeding?

Any suggestions from people who have done this would be awesome

Guntar13

i might be able to help ya out. done both jeeps now and been running mine for 3000 plus miles. Get a vac bleeder for one, its the only way to go. you have a leak or air in the system somewhere. did you swap the guts on the porportioning valve? i know that only helps in hard braking situations but to have a "complete" swap then it needs that part too. use a suction bleeder of some type and you should get you pedal back. im willing to bet there is a bubble somewhere. the other thing to do is pump them up real good and look EVERYWHERE for a leak. sometimes just the smallest leak is hard to see unless you really look

cruiser54

I love my MightyVac bleeder. Plus, you don't have to get anyone to help you.

Guntar13

Basically sums it up for me too! A little compressed air and I'm set can flush an entire system in 15minutes or less

freegdr

Bleeder on top or bottom in rear ? if its possible ...

Big David

I did mine swap over a year ago. I had my wife pump the brakes & bled it that way. No issues. I did not swap out the guts in the proportioning valve.

As they say......every Jeep is different.

freegdr

Seems possible......

93XJLI

this

salad

A-bleeding I shall go. I don't have any means to do compressed air, is something like this good? http://www.princessauto.com/pal/en/E...-Kit/8050832.p

Didn't do the prop valve swap (forgot to get it from the JY), and I don't think the master reservoir ever ran empty. However I did have the Jeep sitting there with the rear hard line just open for several days.

Just stomp the pedal a few zillion times and then have a peek?

Good call, however that's the only way I could tell left from right once I got them out of their boxes hehe


With vise grips on the rear hose to the axle the pedal is nice and firm, maybe I'll try the hoses to the calipers for ****s and giggles

Thanks for the help guys!

freegdr

So bleeders are on top there should be no magic need to bleeding them.

cruiser54

That's a good little bleeder. Handy for sure.

PocketsEmpty

How exactly are you bleeding them? I found that I had to bleed mine in a way I'm not used to (granted, Ive only bled brakes maybe twice before), but I had to actually have someone step on the pedal with the bleeder screw open first and bleed that way. I've always pumped them up first and THEN released the bleeder screw, but this did not work for me when I did my ZJ disc swap.

salad

Alright, I'll give it a spin. Any comments on just popping the bleeder valves a bit and letting the whole thing drip for a few hours?

I actually had helpers for this. Started off with the a one-man kit with the little bottle and hose, put a bit in the bottle, pump the brakes until the bottle's filled. Third and fourth round of bleeding we did this:

- helper indicates they are pressing
- i opened the bleeder valve, let fluid come out
- helper indicates they've hit the floor and hold it
- tighten bleeder before fluid stops
- indicate helper can release and start again

Had problems with the hoses with the kit. Eh it was $5 lol. Went through a liter or two of fluid this way.

PocketsEmpty

Sounds basically like what I did. What problems did you have with the soft hoses? I had to replace one on one side because I broke it trying to loosen the nut for the hard line.

salad

Loosened after a while and was letting air in, also none from the kit fit onto the front bleeder screws