Replacing top banjo bolt - bleed or not?

[Arfdog]

Replacing top banjo bolt with a switched version as my brake light switch is fecked. I want to put the switched bolt in up at the caliper on the bars. My bleed nipple is rusted in solidly, and rounded off so no chance of removal. Can I change top banjo bolt without having to bleed the brakes, or should I leave everything well alone?
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I'm a lover, not a fighter.

[Kickstart]

Hi

You will definatly have to bleed it afterwards.

Although you can also buy banjo bolts with bleed nipples in them, so you could use one of them in the caliper.

All the best

Keith
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[Blau Zedong]

You will have to bleed the brake if you split the top union. If your bleed nipple is really fecked get a bleedable banjo bolt for the bottom.
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18:54:48 Rob Fzs: jews don't give away stuff for free

18:54:59 Rob Fzs: unless its their clothes/ hair/ golden teeth

[baldy]

soak the bleed nipple in wd40, wack the top of it hard with a copper hammer, and get some moulgrips on the job. Always works for me.
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One day i will rule the world, just not today.

[Arfdog]

Thanks guys.

Is using a beedable bottom banjo bolt a better idea than filing down sides of bleed nipple and trying to get it out with vice-clamps?
Just leave the damaged nipple to rust in there forever?

Christ, I wanted to ride tomorrow, I hate waiting for more and more parts...

EDIT
And why bleedable bolt at the bottom? Never understood this, air floats, doesn't it?
____________________
I'm a lover, not a fighter.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Air does rise, but you are (from what you say) already using a different banjo at the top.

I would be tempted to use the bleedable banjo until you have a chance to have a serious go at the real bleed nipple (and time to get someone to drill it out if it shears off).

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Blau Zedong]

In my opinion it's worth a shot at getting the bleed nipple out, but as above at a time when you have perhaps a spare caliper or a willing participant to asssit if the damn thing breaks off. Heat, duck oil and turning the nipple both ways does usually shift them, I've got them out of both my manky X5 calipers without too much difficulty. The bleedable banjo is a decent fix without risking getting stranded with air in the system and a snapped off bleed nipple.
____________________
18:54:48 Rob Fzs: jews don't give away stuff for free

18:54:59 Rob Fzs: unless its their clothes/ hair/ golden teeth

[Arfdog]

OK, I'm finding spares for this bike pretty hard to find, so really worried about killing the caliper. So from what you're all saying, if the nipple does sheer, there is no garantee it will sheer whilst still remaining airtight?

Because If I attempt to loosen it before putting switched banjo bolt in, and it sheers whilst still keeping sealed, the system wil still be fine (brakes work perfectly as is). I could then take it to get it drilled as and when I can, and put the switched banjo in afterwards...

But if it sheers AND loses its seal then I'm well and truly stuffed...
____________________
I'm a lover, not a fighter.

[Blau Zedong]

It would be sods law for it to shift say half a turn, then snap. Unlikely, but would be enough to knacker the job up good and proper. Get a bleedable banjo if you are in a hurry to fix the front brake switch.
____________________
18:54:48 Rob Fzs: jews don't give away stuff for free

18:54:59 Rob Fzs: unless its their clothes/ hair/ golden teeth

[baldy]

Every bleed nipple that i have ever snapped has kept sealed.
____________________
One day i will rule the world, just not today.

[edd]

[Nath]

If you're only changing the top banjo bolt you shouldn't need to bleed the calliper. Your system should "top bleed", by pulling and releasing the lever, though it can take some patience.

If you try and use the bleed nipple on the caliper to get air out of the system that came in from the top at the top banjo bolt, then you will waste a whole load of brake fluid and time forcing the air bubbles down through the system to the callipers.
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Hard livin', hard luck.

[Arfdog]

Ok, I managed to fix the brake light switch in the lever, so no need for toying with Banjo bolts.

I still want to get that beel nipple out though, and went to get a butane torch this morning. So now, what do I heat up - the bolt, or the surrounding caliper?
____________________
I'm a lover, not a fighter.

[G]

You would be heating the surrounding caliper - the idea is that the heat makes the metal expand.

Not sure how well it will work for something rusted in, though.

[Arfdog]

Yay it worked. Oil, knocks with hammer, heat and mole grips did the trick.

One last question: After finishing the job and replacing fluid etc, I noticed a second rusty nipple, also joined to brake caliper by short length of hose. This nipple is on a thing on the shock, which I gather is an anti dive mechanism. Now this one looks like it's fused for eternity...

Is there any wisdom in removing it? It is higher up than the nipple on the brake caliper, so could air become trapped up there and not be bled with the brake bleed nipple? The bike seems more prone to diving now, but perhaps its just my imagination, as the brakes seem pretty good to me.
____________________
I'm a lover, not a fighter.

[Kickstart]

Hi

It was very common to just disconnect the anti dive systems like that, blanking the various orifices off.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing