MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
So.
I am never one to sit still and always like to mess and try new things.
On my bike I have XTR 9020 trail levers combined with the 2 piston XTR calipers as they were from the factory.
I have previously ran Magura brakes on a downhill bike and saw that people were using said levers successfully with Magura calipers.
So I took the plunge and ordered two Magura Trail SL 4 pot calipers. Mounted them on the bike with my Shimano hoses. Bled the rear brake and nothing. No compression. Bled again and again to no avail.
Bled the front and success.
Scratched my head. Ordered the Magura hoses for both ends. Bled the rear. Nothing. Changed the rear barb and olive to a Magura at the lever. Nothing. Ordered a Magura two pot caliper for the rear. Bled. Nothing.
Took my BR-M9020 lever apart and put silicon grease on the seals. Bled. Nothing.
Ordered another lever. Fitted, bled, nothing!
Changed the barb back to Shimano. Bled. Nothing!
Used Shimano mineral oil throughout. Tried once with Royal Blood.
But the flipping lever just pulls to the bar every time with no compression at all.
I bleed from the caliper to the lever with a funnel on the lever. Check to remove all air bubbles etc.
Am seriously loosing it.
Any suggestions?
With Shimano or shigura Ive never done anything more than a gravity bleed from lever to caliper as per the Dave marsh syndicate method.
Didn't think Shimano hoses worked as the hole in the caliper end was too big.
When you force the fluid through from the caliper can you then pump fluid back through from the funnel with the lever to the caliper bleed syringe?
Correct. The Shimano hoses did not work so changed to Magura hoses.
Yes it has pumped from the lever on every occasion with the Magura hoses. Not a flow issue. Flowing smoothly.
Utterly stumped.
Air trapped in a high point would be the most common issue. A lot of rear brake calipers need to be removed from the frame (or the whole bike put at a ridiculous angle) to get air out the caliper.
Worth a punt. And not too difficult to execute.
Remove caliper from the bike and tap it gently from each side with something plastic while keeping the bleeding valve upwards. This should free those stuck air bubbles and position them as close to the valve as possible. I've done it with shimano brakes, it worked, should work with maguras.
Thank you. Will try that later.
It worked. Air was definitely trapped in the caliper. So used to already bled systems so needed to check all the corners. Gravity is good. Air does not like it. Rise above.