Bleed kit for Avid Juicy 3 a necessity?

russboy

Not used my MTB for 2 months as been using a road bike for my daily commute.

Setting my MTB back to be a true MTB rather than a hybrid & noticed 1 piston seized on the front & same on the back. In the end I've had to split the calipers to force the pistons back, so now I have to bleed the system.

To be fair I've covered 5000 miles in 3yrs so about time!

So do you have to buy a bleed kit? I see they're only about £13 on eBay if I do need to get one.

Russ

nicklouse

so how are you going to bleed it with out one?

russboy

nicklouse wrote:

so how are you going to bleed it with out one?

Not the most constructive of answers but hence my question & on the basis of your reply to is it a necessity, the answer appears to be "yes".

Let me re phrase, do you have to have a bleed kit to bleed the brakes? But I suppose that's rhetorical now.

The Rookie

Watch a video and see if you can figure a way to do it without a bleed kit......you won't.

stubs

You can bodge a kit together but its a ball ache to find the adaptors and by the time you have pished about with clamps and syringes and got Dot 5.1 all over your hands you will wish you had bought the kit. Epic bleed solutions do a decent kit.

bikaholic

If the master cylinder (lever) has a reservoir cap with a rubber bladder underneath it, then it can be bled without using a kit.

Clamp lever level, remove cap, fill up the reservoir, pump the lever several times to build up internal pressure, hold the lever blade to the handlebar and then open the bleed screw. The built up pressure will expel liquid along with air bubbles. Close the bleed screw before letting go of the lever blade. Then repeat until the lever feels firm and no more bubbles rise into the reservoir or can be seen exiting the caliper. This is the gravity method (aka Hope method, aka early Shimano method).

Obviously, the Juicy caliper does not have a hose attachment nipple (unless you improvise one - add a ball valve connected to a small length of hose to make things easier) so the bleed procedure will be messy and requires a small amount of guess work.

Therefore, pads will need to be removed prior to bleeding.

There are a few other refinements to include but that is the basic method.

cooldad

Just ignore this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^. Please.
And get the right bleed kit. As Stubs says, Epic are good.

bikaholic

cooldad wrote:

Just ignore this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^. Please.
And get the right bleed kit. As Stubs says, Epic are good.

I should quote this just in case it gets edited.

The Rookie

+1 on ignoring the crazy advice

stubs

bikaholic wrote:

If the master cylinder (lever) has a reservoir cap with a rubber bladder underneath it, then it can be bled without using a kit.

Clamp lever level, remove cap, fill up the reservoir, pump the lever several times to build up internal pressure, hold the lever blade to the handlebar and then open the bleed screw. The built up pressure will expel liquid along with air bubbles. Close the bleed screw before letting go of the lever blade. Then repeat until the lever feels firm and no more bubbles rise into the reservoir or can be seen exiting the caliper. This is the gravity method (aka Hope method, aka early Shimano method).

Obviously, the Juicy caliper does not have a hose attachment nipple (unless you improvise one - add a ball valve connected to a small length of hose to make things easier) so the bleed procedure will be messy and requires a small amount of guess work.

Therefore, pads will need to be removed prior to bleeding.

There are a few other refinements to include but that is the basic method.

Please dont do this at home children. Buy the kit and do it properly the above could go horribly wrong.

robertzee

Where are you based. I have one I no longer need if you are local?

russboy

I'm in Epsom, Surrey, yourself?

Def going to get one, seems a no brainer really.