Shortened one just recently. I suggest you shorten from the lever end and you’re correct about the olive not being reusable. But they are only £1.99 from CRC (you may want to buy 2, see further down my post):
olive
To fit:
make sure you have a neatly cut hose end
slide the the plastic cover back down the hose as it won’t fit over the olive once that is fitted
push the olive in to the hose end
fit in the lever and just tighten to compress the olive
I’ve heard the Hayes bleed kit is poor and you’ve probably got most of the stuff anyway if you’ve been bleeding your Hope’s#
I used:
1. a syringe (20ml ish) available from vets/pharmacies
2. short piece of hose to connect syringe to the calliper nipple
3. ring spanner for the bleed nipple on the caliper
4. Dot 4 fluid (same as already fitted)
5. More tubing and a bottle to catch the fluid flushed out of the lever
6. Metal bleed port connector to fit to the tube above and push into the bleed port on the lever. My LBS had a selection of metal fittings that did the trick, but I’ve read it suggested to use a spare olive.
Flush upwards from the caliper to the lever (which is rotated on the bars so the bleed port is uppermost).The bleed port plug is just a push in type, don’t unscrew the whole cover. There are fairly good instructions on the Hayes site if you need them. My LBS complained that it is inevitable that when you refit the bleed port plug some air will be trapped behind it. I don’t agree. I just got a friend to push the plug in whilst I pushed a little fluid (via the syringe still attached to the calliper) out of the port so no air gap at all, worked 1st time.
