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Shimano XTR bleeding kit trouble

6K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  CMihalcheon 
#1 ·
Hello I am trying to bleed my XTR (M975) brakes. I bought the Shimano bleeding kit, and I watched a great (presumably) Korean YouTube instructional video. My problem, however, is that I cannot securely fix the tubing - neither to the syringe nor to the bleeding nipple. The result is a huge mess, with brake fluid everywhere. Can anybody give me a hint as to how to make it better?
 
#2 ·
Interesting, why would he bleed from the caliper? He'll introduce bubbles from the nipple... I always let the gravity do its job with a syringe sucking the brake fluid out while I add oil at the top. When the oil out of the caliper is pink, I call it good. I just admitted that I need to bleed more often, yeah.

I don't like pushing the oil out the syringe because it tends to get stuck with oil (rubber seal swells?) and give a sudden squirt thus creating mess. I just suck it out. Have not had a problem with my 2 XTs and Deore, so I don't see a problem with this.
 
#3 ·
The idea of bleeding from the caliper to the lever is that air rises and the air will rise easier with the fluid going the same direction, up. I've done Shimanos method, didn't like it as much.
I've tried the caliper method, liked the results but hate the mess.
I might have to try hatake's way, suck it out of the lever via the caliper.

And regarding the tube securing to the nipples, the tube it too big in the kit. I used silicon fuel hose for nitro R/Cs that I used to play with. Go to your nearest hobby shop and they will sell you a foot for <$1 in all sorts of colors. Get the thick ones as it will old better.
 
#4 ·
Caliper up is the best method IMO, as large air bubbles can get trapped in the brake lines making the top down method time consuming and not work as properly. I find that by holding the syringe vertical over the caliper and letting the air from the syringe and hose rise to the top of the syringe first, the bleed goes flawlessly every time.

With RC nitro hose I found the more times I used it, the looser it got at the end and I needed to cut a bit every once and a while, and thus my hose got really short after a while. I have grown to like the hose that comes with the 15ml bottles of Shimano fluid, it makes for a really tight seal on the bleed nipple.
 
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