My Ranger Hates Me, what size are the front bleeders?

[The_AntiPirate]

So I blew a front brake line recently and after changing the busted steel line I go to bleed the brakes. I loosen up the bleeders on the rear drums in preparation, 7mm bleeders, interesting. Move on the front bleeders and I cannot find the right size for these friggin things. 9mm is too small, 10mm is too big, 3/8s is almost right but just big enough to spin as soon as I put pressure on it, 7/16s is too big. What size are my bleeders? I've tried every socket and wrench in my garage and nothing fits.

 

[corkey]

grab a few new bleeders from an auto parts store , than take vise grips, and remove the old ones,, put new ones in,, problem solved,,

 

[The_AntiPirate]

alright I'll just go with that...

 

[Scott B.]

On my '93, they are 11mm.

 

[The_AntiPirate]

Well vice grips didn't work at all, just chewed it up more and hurt my wrist.

11mm? Argh my ranger is such a frankenstein... I'm about ready to push the ranger off a cliff :roll: and take the '79 bronco off tool shed duty to use as my daily

 

[Scott B.]

Spray the bleeders with PB Blaster - let them soak. They should loosen up.

Be sure to bleed thoroughly - you don't want any penetrating oil in the brake system.

 

[The_AntiPirate]

Yeah that's what I did, sprayed it with PB blaster every 15 minutes or so for an hour and the thing is still solid.

 

[Scott B.]

Maybe it's time to buy new/rebuilt calipers...

 

[The_AntiPirate]

That would be ideal, but I'm flat broke and the truck is my only way to get to work. I have to make do with what I have on hand, which is a bunch of tools and a few spare bleeder screw replacements. I'm going to try using a stripped bolt remover socket if I can find the darn thing.

 

[rookieshooter]

Don't worry about it. Just take a pair of Vice Grips and clamp on the thing. Make sure it's clamped really good and the teeth of the grips are biting in. Then apply some steady pressure gradually increasing and the thing will come right out in less then one minute. Just a matter of appling non slipping leverage. Replace with new one.

 

[The_AntiPirate]

Well I ended up grabbing a junk yard caliper that was in good shape and using that. Installed a new bleeder on both front calipers, cleaned up the new caliper, made sure the pistons would compress, bolted it on, connected everything, bled all the lines... annnnd now the other front caliper seems to be having issues.

Front passenger side won't release now. I can turn the wheel by hand but I have to put a little bit of force into it, locks up when you hit the pedal like it should, but it seems like it isn't releasing all the way you can tell it's still pressing on the rotor.

 

[The_AntiPirate]

I think I made it worse...

Took the brakes apart and cleaned everything with brake cleaner, reassembled and now that wheel is TOTALLY locked up. I've read that the flex line can cause pressure to be held if it fails, so I checked it by opening the bleeder to see if the pressure was released, no dice, flex line is good. I hope I don't need another new caliper...

 

[johnbovi]

I think I made it worse...

Took the brakes apart and cleaned everything with brake cleaner, reassembled and now that wheel is TOTALLY locked up. I've read that the flex line can cause pressure to be held if it fails, so I checked it by opening the bleeder to see if the pressure was released, no dice, flex line is good. I hope I don't need another new caliper...

howd you go with this? Fix it yet? What was the issue