Clutch Bleeding Tip

Discussion in 'Mechanics Garage' started by Jut, Apr 5, 2013.

  1. Jut

    Jut New Member

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    Hey guys,

    I have been repairing damage caused by a broken chain last year on my 03 VFR. The masterlink came apart under medium thottle pulling away from some lights in Whitehorse, Yukon on my way home from Alaska. It split the drive sprocket cover, cracked the shifter cover, bent some bolts, and caused the bike to leak oil while on the side stand.

    Anyway I was having a hard time trying to bleed the clutch so I figured I would share what I have learned.

    1. The clutch slave cylinder is mounted to the drive sprocket cover infront of the left foot peg, so is the speed sensor, FYI.

    2. When you remove the slave cylinder, if you do not intend to disassemble and rebuild the cylinder wrap a cable tie around the cylinder such that the piston cannot fall out while leaking clutch fluid all over the floor. Not knowing that info leads me to...

    3. I tried bleeding the clutch with the pump the lever, hold it to the bars, open the bleed valve, close the bleed valve and repeat method, but that just wasn't working. There was just too much air in the lines. To get the air out, pull the slave cylinder off. Now, pump the clutch lever while holding the piston into the cylinder. Once the piston seal is about to reach the edge of the cylinder, release the lever and push the piston back into the cylinder and force the fluid backwards throught the lines. Repeat this a few times and you should have a lot of air bubble out of the master cylinder. Lastly, install the slave cylinder and do the pump, hold, open, close, repeat a few times until you don't see air bubbles and get a good feel into the clutch.

    I hope this helps someone else in the future.
     
  2. mello dude

    mello dude Administrator

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    The magic helper is:
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    SB8125L
     
  3. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    Speed Bleeders make the bleeding process so simple and painless. I recently replaced my stock clutch/brake lines with steel braided lines. I used a vacuum bleeder to drain the likes, which works perfect for this task. Then I installed the speed bleeders, then the new lines and went at it. The hardest part about this was installing the lines. With the linked brakes there are a few lines that use connection blocks and flared connectors not banjo bolts, the one under the seat was a bit tricky to access and reinstall. Once these were all in, bleeding the lines was rather quick!
     
  4. Stuartb3502

    Stuartb3502 New Member

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    Thanks Jut for these tips. Helped me greatly. After swapping seals in the slave cylinder, I’d lost enough fluid (and the bike had too :)) that despite an external speed bleeder type gubbins and vacuum bleeder, I couldn’t get it bled. Following your tips allowed me to get started and then the other techniques were easy from there.
     
  5. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    it usually helps to remove sprocket cover and force the slave piston back with a C-clamp and hold it back while bleeding to eliminate a place where air could hide.
     
  6. deja vu

    deja vu New Member

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    One other thing that might (potentially) help someone: I struggled mightily with an '87 VFR700. Specifically, the clutch wouldn't build up pressure. I tried everything, including replacing the master cylinder housing, the master cylinder cups/etc., the slave cylinder.

    In the end, what saved the day was some teflon tape around the bleeder at the slave cylinder. In all my messing around, the seal had been lost between the slave cylinder and the bleeder valve and a couple of turns with the teflon tape immediately brought back a tight seal and instantly there was pressure. Just posting this in case it helps someone who has tried everything else.
     
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