Maggie Bleed Problems!

[Concussion]

I've just converted my old front maggie to run on the rear of my A-B bike, bought longer hose / new olive's etc, (I hope I fitted them right, but it didn't seem to hard?) .......lever is upside down and the TPA is wound out. (not in use etc)

Set it all up and bleed it in bucket of water and used the syringe methed cause I'm having probs.

But..... when I pull the lever, the pads only move when the lever is half pressed etc, not instantly like my other brake.

Only last week did I bucket/bleed my normal rear brake with great results..... what the hell is going on? Even if there was some air in the system I would expect the brake to instantly move, but feel soft.

Am I being stupid or what?

Edited November 3, 2006 by Concussion

[Joe Papasnap Maher]

air in the system

Yar, me no lie

[Concussion]

Well I'll be buggerd if I can find any! Bath bleed / syringe bleed.... couple of times on both methods.

Like I say, I did change the hose (expelled all fluid).... thought I may have damaged the cylinders or the lever somehow?

Thanks for replying, I know this gets asked a lot but I am right p`st off with it!

[anzo]

If you're having that many problems, try dismantling it ALL...throw it all in the bath and rebuild it underwater...takes a while, but well worth it. Also try getting a pair of pliers, grab the nipple (haha) of the piston in the caliper and pull it in and out under water...I used to have problems, but this forces out all the little trapped bits of air

[Metal]

My maggie does that after a re-bleed. Only seems to happen when I ran out of blood and used water I do this

Lay the bike on its side and prepare to work on the lever who's bleed screw is facing up. Remove the bleed screw. Fill your bleed syring (or an eye dropper) with brake oil and drip it into the lever until it ALMOST fills the screw cavity - leave a gap from the top. Operate the lever S-L-O-W-L-Y for its full travel and you will see bubbles rise and pop. Go verrrrry slowly or oil will spill out.

When the lever is back to the bars, release it slowly and re-fill the lever body. Squeeze the lever again slowly and repeat the squeeze-release and fill sequence until no more bubbles surface. It will take about 5-6 full pulls to accomplish this. You'll wonder where all the oil is going.

When you're sure it's full then try tapping the lever to open it a mere gnat's whisker. You may find other small bubbles appear. This is good! Repeat and re-fill until no more bubbles appear at all. Completely top up the lever right to the top of the threads and replace the bleed screw.

Now squeeze the lever several times to circulate the fluid, this will also cause any air that still might be in the line or master cylinder to rise to the top. Perform a Quickbleed top up once more, reset your TPA/pad adjuster and reach adjuster and you're done.

and it seems to fix it.

Its nice and easy to

[Concussion]

At last it worked! Tried the squeeze the lever method and re-bleed it under water again.... a few small bubbles came out and everything seems ok after a quick ride.

God knows what the three chavs coming round the corner made of me hopping across a deserted road at 12.30 at night thought!

Riddle me this though.... why didn't a bath bleed AND a powerful syringe bleed expel all the air out of the system in the first place?

Was it cause I changed the hose, thereby removing all the liquid, leaving a high chance of air bubbles? see above question and go round in circles!

Thanks for the help!

[Fixed Pants™]

God knows what the three chavs coming round the corner made of me hopping across a deserted road at 12.30 at night thought!

Nothing, they couldn't, they're too f**king stupid to think, the wankers. I hate chavs.

[Concussion]

Er` I hate them too!

but why didn't the several bleeds I did expel all the air first time / how can it get trapped etc... just for next time?