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Never had an issue with the old style brakes with the removeable reservoir cap and bleeding with a syringe from the bottom up. 5 mins, job done.
But these new ones with the bleed hole on the lever end. Did 2 bleeds last night using the Epic kit and instructions and the lever still pulls almost all the way to the bar when the reach adjuster is wound fully out, and to the bar when it's wound back in. I tried the old trick and left the lever ziptied to the bars last night to see if that helped and that doesn't seem to have made any difference. That says to me there's not enough oil in the system (ie, air in there somewhere)
Before I completely empty the system and start afresh with completely new oil, am I missing anything?
M675 brakes and levers.
I had problems when I first did mine. How far are you opening the bleed nipple on the caliper? It only needs 1/8 of a turn at the most. Once I realised this, I bled both with in 5 mins. Follow the Shimano instructions to the letter, you'll be fine!
Rear ?
Yes, rear.
Have been following Epic's instructions which say 1/4 turn, will try again tonight with 1/8.
Yeah, i found 1/4 too much. I opened the top of the lever too, to make sure the reservoir is full and you're not forcing a load of air though. Once bled, I fitted the top cap and dripped a few drops through that top bleed hole, before fitting the screw.
That was without a fancy kit though, really like the look of the Epic kit!
I always find (XTs) that if I remove the caliper, pump the (old) pads out until they nearly touch, and then bleed, I get a rock solid lever.
If the lever is then too solid and you want a little travel, very slightly loosen the bleed nipple, pull the lever a little and keep it there while you do up the nipple again, or if you manually push the pads back in a small amount, the oil will purge a little from the lever-overflow(have a rag ready).
The reach screw is nigh on useless imho.
Works for me. Very good, firm bite on my XT and Deore brakes.
I just bought the shimano yellow screw in cup for the leaver - saves messing around with two syringe which I presume you have to with the Epic kit?
No, Epic kit has a screw in adaptor for the lever end syringe, and you run that with the plunger out so it acts the same as the funnel.
Bleed the brake with the free stroke screw screwed out. This increases the volume of the master cylinder so you get a little more fluid in the system. Then when you screw it back in it actually does something.
EDIT - on XT obviously, SLX doesn't have this.
I followed the Shimano instructions to the letter with their bleed kit and got a good bleed first time. I would recommend that approach as a result.
Try Taking Caliper off mount and have it hung low bit more fiddly but i have allways found it a better bleed
anyone got a link to the 'official' shimano instructions?
always remove caliper from bike.
Let it hang down, keep tapping it to move any trapped air.
Also has the advantage of ensuring the disc is kept fluid free.
[url= http://bike.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/Deore-XT/SI_0116A/SI-0116A-001-00-Eng_v1_m56577569830746864.pdf ]http://bike.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/Deore-XT/SI_0116A/SI-0116A-001-00-Eng_v1_m56577569830746864.pdf[/url]
"Try Taking Caliper off mount and have it hung low bit more fiddly but i have allways found it a better bleed"
i did this a few weeks ago for my slx rear:
-rotated lever to horizontal, turned bars so the lever was slightly uphill thanks to the sweep of the bars (helps air get out of the lever body imo)
-removed caliper and let it hang directly below the lever, using the yellow spacer to keep the pads away from any gunk
-screwed in the funnel and put some oil in
-opened the bleed valve and let gravity push some oil through
-spent ages "pinging" the lever to the bar (squeezing quickly and letting it go) until most of the bubbles were out (20 mins)
-gave it the occasional hard squeeze too
-gave it 5 mins with lever clamped tight to bar
-removed funnel and replaced bleed screw
lever feels much better now, good solid feel.
I did a set of the Deores a few weeks back, followed the Epic instructions to the letter and as per davidrussell above spent ages pinging the lever (Step 12 in the Epic instructions) to get all the bubbles out.
followed the Shimano instructions to the letter with their bleed kit and got a good bleed first time. I would recommend that approach as a result.
This!
Especially the 1/8th of a turn bit! I started at para 4 as there is already oil in the system, i also only opened the nipple 1/8th. Worked first time, no probs.
Is it also worth adjusting the lever reach to it's fullest extent before starting the bleed?
Rebled, being painstaking with it, tapping and tapping and tapping again..... and finally all the little bubbles are out and it works again.
What a FAFF though. Next job was a new hose onto my old style ones, done and bled in 15 mins with minimal effort.
Progress, eh!
Need to bleed (again) my rear SLX brake so have bookmarked this thread!
Where's the cheapest place to get Shimano mineral oil from?
And do you guys keep the stuff you push through (assuming it's clean) for reuse or dispose of it?
Cheers,
Si
Helfords sell a version its relabled Clarks stuff it's green not pink. The only thing I noticed was shimano stuff is thinner in terms of sae.