Need one tomorrow morning and Halfords is pretty close anyone know if they stock them?

no but you can buy the tube (windscreen washer tube) and LHM mineral oil (think it’s labelled as citroen steering oil). Add a syringe and you’ve got a bleed kit.

im doing it top down, eg squeezing the lever so do i only need the oil a pipe and a bag?

tube, halfords LHM mineral oil, and a 7mm spanner

so it doesnt have to be shimano mineral oil? dont wanna mrss em up, brand new SLX set.

no it doesn’t have to be shimano, halfords should have mineral oil if its a big store. Did the brakes not come with any?

yeah they came pre bled but need cutting down so im gonna do that and then they will need bleeding right?

I’ve used halfords lhm in m800 saints for nearly 2 years with no bother. also got it in my slx front but that’s only about 2 months old.

you can buy a litre of the shimano stuff for about £13 if you want the proper stuff

just a quickie on the slx after i remove the rubber sleeve do i have to undo the black bolt or just wiggle the hose free?

yes undo it 8)

im a virgin bleeder so just wanna get everyhing right, gonna shorten both hoses then bleed the sytems, stupid flat mate stored my bike upside down when i was away so the new pre bled sytem got air in.

tinkering with Shimano brakes? God have mercy on you.

I have 2 bikes, both with Shimano brakes, I go to bed crying most nights. 😥

are you kidding?

Shimano disc brakes, from parts to fitted filled and bled in about 30 mins – and I’m no mechanical genius. I’ve said before and I’ll say again – disc brakes are to me the top level of perceived vs actual difficulty ratio.

Mosey – Go bottom up. Get a syringe from the chemist and a bit of washer hose as said from Halfords when you get the LHM oil.

Once you’ve cut and refitted the hoses (new olive, etc.)

0. Put kettle on and make a cup of tea.

1. Fit a bit of hose to the bleed nipple other end to a small bag or wad of tissue even. 1 min.

2. Turn the lever so the reservoir is horizontal. Remove reservoir cap and diapragm (don’t lose the screws!) 2 mins, mainly to find a right sized screwdriver.

3. open bleed nipple 1/4 turn and pump brake lever like billy-o to pump the old fluid out. 2 mins.

4. Get a new bit of hose. Put on the end of the syringe and fill with oil and do the nursey thing to make sure there’s no air in. 1 min

5. Put this on the bleed nipple instead of the waste hose. 1 min

6. Push the oil in gently, back up the tube taking all the bubbles up with it (air rises, right?) until it starts to fill the reservoir. 3 mins.

7. Go slowly to fill the reservoir to the brim. Use a bit of tissue to skim off the top bit, in case any crud has come up with it. Rebrim it, from either end, it doesn’t matter and then gently replace the diaphragm and reservoir cap, using tissue to catch the overflow. 2 mins.

8. Drink tea which is now at optimal drinking temperature.

lol cheers theotherjonv ill se iff i can get a syringe then and try it that way. So do i just keep pumping the lever till all the oil is out? not pump and close and pump and close like some people have said?

right i have everything and im about to try the shortening and bleed.

Oh the halfords stuff is called LHM Plus???? is that ok? it says mineral oil for brake so i guess its fine?

yep LHM is fine.

Check out this thread for hints on doing it.
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/swapping-hoses-over-on-xt-brakes

That will be fine. I use Magura blood in mine with no problems but have used LHM before.

Easiest brakes to bleed out of the lot IME. I hate doing my Hopes because they’re a bloody faff to get feeling right but Shimano are dead simple.

If you get stuck or want some guidance (over the rather good instructions provided above) take a look at the Park Tools website – they have step by step instructions that any muppet can follow (even me). Takes me less than 5 minutes to bleed each end now.

I just did it, bottom up with a syringe that Je James gave me free, proper nice chap talked me through it and gave me tube, syringe olive and inserts for free, Cheers Je James.

My porch is a right mess tho lol.

Really glad i tried it, feel ive achieved something

Tinkering is fun 🙂

Great service from JE James as well!

oh and is the lhm oild bright green? hope so cos thats what i used?

Quick tip: never let the oil/fluid level in the lever (…master cylinder/resovior) drop so low that the hole in the botom becomes exposed to air. Go on, ask me how I know 😐 “Ohh, I’ll give it one last squeeze before doing everything up and finishing”. Oops…

i let it empty when i bled all the old oil out??????????? i bled bottom up and they seem fine??????????????? im worried now?

Don’t be you’re fine. If you did bottom up there’s nowhere for air to sit. No panic.

cool, cos ive just been for a spin and i love the new build, its finally finished.

Im a bit upset i finished my first build cos now i wanna tinker some more.

Excellent – join the club of knowers, that realise that it’s a piece of P to do once you think it through.

All that tighten – untighten, tapp the hose, squeeze the lever, that goes with top down bleeding. What a faff. Bottom up, if you think it through – what could possibly go wrong?

In fairness it is one of the simplest systems to bleed, but they’ve caused me a series of problems recently that have had me pulling my hair out.

This made me chuckle

Bottom up, if you think it through – what could possibly go wrong?

…..because my most recent problem was possibly caused, in part, by the bottom up method. I can only assume that a bit of dirt was in the little mouth of the bleed nipple. I then probably forced that dirt up into the caliper by the bottom up syringe bleeding method. This, I believe, caused the brake lever to feel like it was working properly, but the pistons had no power, I believe it was a blockage. Continuous bleeding of the brakes (thinking it was an air bubble problem) gave the same results, levers appeared to be normal, no obvious obstructions in the bleeding, but the brakes were just shitzer. A last resort complete strip down and rebuild revealed the probable cause (a little bit of dirt) and appeared to sort things out.

I’ve had various other silly issues like mineral oil pssing out of the pistons. Pleased to hear you had no problems Mosey.

what size syringe do you need to complete fill the system?

It takes no more than 15-20 ml, even allowing for overflow. I’ve never measured it but that’s my guess. I use a 50ml syringe, about half full and have loads left over. If you use smaller and there isn’t enough in there to fill the system you can theoretically close the bleed valve, refill and go again but you risk getting an air bubble in there halfway up the system. Sure, you could tap it up to the top but then it becomes a faff; which kind of defeats the object.

50ml syringes readily available on the ‘bay

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=50ml+syringe&_sacat=See-All-Categories

B.A.Nana – good point. I’ve not had that issue, thankfully. Do you have dust caps on the bleed nipple? I’ll modify my instructions to include making sure the bleed nips are scrupulously clean first!

Anybody else find that the mineral oil makes the syringe go really sticky ? I have to chuck mine away after every bleed as they seize up

Did my xtr and lx last weekend just by draining and adding fluid to the top.

Easy.

If you have probs doing it this way then deffo syringe method.

I just don’t understand how ppl can’t read the instructions??!

I’ve yet to bleed my LXs but if I understand the principle correctly you can bleed by completely replacing the fluid and any air in it (the Shimano instructions show use the top down method I think) but they also seem to suggest that you can just bleed the air by keeping the bleed nipple closed and pumping the lever – I think you’re meant to watch for bubbles in the reservoir. Does hydraulic fluid degrade over time and eventually need replacing?

I think that the open bleed nipple – pump lever – close bleed nipple – release lever and repeat approach is to stop stop air being drawn in when you release the lever with the nipple open.

Does, in fact, hydraulic mineral oil have a lifespan irrespective of whether it needs bleeding? I’ve heard that it can absorb water over time, which presumably affects performance. Should I be replacing my fluid every so often?