Front Brake Bleeder Screw size?

[ScarSnake]

Anyone know for sure what size the front disc brake bleeder screw is? Vehicle is 2000 Eddie Bauer 4WD.

It seems to be between 9 & 10 mm, or 5/16 & 3/8. The 3/8 slips without turning the screw. I picked up a pair of replacement screws, and they are 3/8 for sure.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Do you want to know the socket size or the thread size of a new bleeder? They sell these parts in the section where the red packages called Help! are sold. There is a new type with a one way check valve for bleeding the calipers. All you would have to do is loosen them up a little bit, step on the brake, watch the old fluid go out through a hose into a container, and that's it.

 

[ScarSnake]

I need the socket size.

Those speed bleeders sound good in theory, but don't really work that well. I race my Mustang, and bleed my brakes two or three times a weekend. The problem with the speed bleeders is that they will leak around the threads, even with teflon tape. They may work OK if you only loosen them once or twice a year, but I'm not spending that kind of money again. I picked up tow bleeders for less than $5.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I had an idea about this. Since you bleed the brakes so often (I don't know why), maybe you could use a drain style fitting like the type they use to drain water from a compressed air system? The older radiators had a similar drain **** which was a metal twist valve.

 

[Spdrcer34]

Brake Systems are under a GREAT DEAL of pressure, and heat cycles....I wouldn't feel comfortable using anything other the OEM design..but that's just me.



Ryan

 

[ScarSnake]

Since you bleed the brakes so often (I don't know why)

I've had the truck for 90,000km, and this will be the first time I crack open the bleeders. Perhaps I shouldn't use the word crack? With racing the Mustang, the brakes get bled often because of the extreme stress that is put on the brakes. Nothing like street use at all. I usually change the calipers every season as well. I've gone through a set of brake pads in a single day, and they weren't cheap pads (Hawk HPS...wrong pad for the track). I can't see a petcock valve standing up to the heat and pressure of the application. And when you're pulling the car down from 230+kph, I don't need any other reasons to be worried!

So, I will likely be putting vise grips on the bleeders screws, and hope they don't break.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Are the bleeders stripped? You should use the closed side of a box wrench so that you don't distort the bleeder by squeezing them.