Bleeding master cylinders

[MPlayle]

I have read many times about needing to "bench bleed" new and freshly rebuilt brake and clutch mater cylinders.  I have not read anywhere what that means and how to do it.

Anyone with more experience care to enlighten me?

Note: I'm posting separate from the Moke thread so others can reference the process easier.

[94touring]

All I've ever done to ensure a good bleed is hold pressure on the pedal and crack the fitting on the master.

[MiniDave]

I've also not had any issues getting Mini brakes to bleed, some of them are a little quirky getting the rears cleared.

Bench bleeding means plugging the out put holes and filling the reservoir, then putting a tube onto one outlet, putting that into a jar of fluid and cycling the master cylinder. The idea is that you know you have fluid thruout the cylinder so it should push it on out to the wheels from there.

I've never had to do this on a Mini......usually I just fill the reservoir, open a rear bleed and give it a few strokes then go on thru the procedure.

[MPlayle]

Dave,

Thanks for the confirmation.  I had thought is was something as simple as clamping to the workbench, filling with fluid, and pumping to ensure the master pushed fluid out the port.

[MiniDave]

Exactly.....