Bleeding Front Drum Brakes?

[Chlngr]

Anybody have any idea how to get a wrench on the bleeder screws under the front end of a '72 F-100 with full power drums?

It's got a bracket that hugs the bleeder screw and prevents all attempts to get anything but a deep socket on it, and this, or course, prevents getting a hose on the bleeder nipple.

The bracket holds up a strange little intermediate brake hardline that I've never seen before -- it connects the rubber line to the wheel cylinder. Strange as it is to me, it appears to be 100% factory on a very original truck.

If I remove the bracket, it appears that I'll have to loosen the fittings on this intermediate brake line -- which would re-introduce air to the wheel cylinder.

The Ford Factory shop manual is no help.

I'm certain there's gotta be a trick, but in my 26 years of playing with 1967-1975 cars, I've never seen anything like this.

Thanks, up front, for any help anyone can give!

[fordman]

i usally let the brake fuild land were ever it wants to go. i don't try to put a hose on it and catch it for any reason. thats me though.

[flyboy2610]

I don't think I've seen aset up like that before.

[72hiboy4x4]

heres an idea how. I haven't seen your setup, but this might work.
break the bleeder screw loose with the deep socket, so the bleeder screw turns by hand.
thread the brake bleeder hose thru the deep socket (without the ratchet) and bleed normally, using the socket to turn the screw.
when you are done, tighten as far as you can by hand, then remove the hose, and tighten with the ratchet to specs.

[FORDification]

Here's a shot of the front brakes on my '68 F100 parts truck. You can see how the bleeder valve is hard to get to:



...and here's a scan of the special wrench you'll need to get to the bleeder valve. You should be able to bend a regular box wrench at the necessary 45* angle.

[Chlngr]

YES! THANKS!

That's it! The goofy little intermediate brake hardline! Thanks for the picture -- no digital camera here....

The wrench looks like it came from Ford tech service literature -- just not any that I have...and since welding (and torches) escapes me (for now), I guess I'll be on the hunt for a 45-degree 3/8" wrench.

I sure hope this wasn't covered in a previous post -- I've been "lurking and searching" here at FORDifcation for about a week now.....

Thanks again!

[fordman]

do you have a vise and a propane torch? you could do it with that. but i would use mapp gas it's in the yellow bottle. they sell it at walmart. right beside the blue propane bottles. mapp gas burns hotter than propane.

[bluef250]

Has anyone tried a Russell Speed Bleeder? The bleeder has an integral check valve. Open the bleeder 1/4 turn, bleed brakes, then tighten bleeder. One person job. I ran across reference in an article on installing disc brakes on a Dana 60 rear end. Sounds intriguing. Some reported having trouble getting the valve threads to seat correctly.

[Wes]

Your local parts store should have an off set 6 point box end wrench esp for brake bleeding. The import wrench (copied form snap-on) should do well for every now then use, and cost a few $. Less then the wrench your going to bend anyway.
As for the speed bleeders they work nice esp if you have 4 of them bleed the unit in a few minutes only getting under 2x . I use a 2 liter coke bottle and a length of 3/16 vac hose to bleed brakes. Place the vac line to bottom of bottle and fill bottle w/ brake fluid till hose is covered. Then attach to bleeder screw open and cycle pedal till no air bubbles are seen. close screw move to next. I have been using this method for 15 years,at home and at work, is 1 person brake bleeding method.
Wes

[Chlngr]

Exactly, Wes!

My problem was that I couldn't put a hose on the bleeder so that I could drop it into the jar of wasted brake fluid. Heck, I couldn't even hook up my little MityVac, because any wrench I had would have to block access to the nipple.

Thanks for the tip on the brake bleeder wrench, didn't know such a thing even existed, because my straight box- or open-end wrenches have gotten me this far. (Even on my '67!)

I even thought about a distributor wrench, but neither end was 3/8-inch, so no deal there, either. Probably too much offset, anyway.

Since the '72 is going to be a garage queen until I am good and happy with it -- I'll see if I can scare up (sorry, Halloween's a-comin) one of these wrenches you guys are trying to help me with!

Again, thanks to all!