Rounded + Nipple + Bleed

Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2003
Posts
17,578
Location
Bristol, UK
Went and bought some DOT5.1 from 'frauds today. Just under a tenner for a litre and was going to change my brake fluid.

I cannot really fault my brakes much but as I have little service history with the car I wanted to do it for piece of mind and at the same time I can inspect the brake and suspension for wear, corrosion and the like.

Anyway, took the nearside rear wheel off. Inspected all of the brake components (drums on the rear) and they are all in good condition and I am pleased with them.

Stuck my 8mm spanner on the bleed nipple and gave it a turn and it just rounded the nipple straight away.

Tried a few other things but no good so in the end put the wheel back on and decided to leave it. I don't want to bleed 3 wheels and not the other. I prefer to do things properly or not at all.

So what do I do now?

Buy a new brake cylinder, any ideas on cost?

Look into disc conversion (don't really want to go to major expense on my work horse car).

Other?

Cheers folks!

EDIT - I went testing the brakes, from 50mph I stopped in around 8-10m I think. Not that I got out to measure but looking at fixed objects around me as markers. This seems ok anyway? Highway code is 38m + 12m thinking, 50m! iirc.
 
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This is what brake nipple spanners are for. Stops you rounding the nipples off :) Any decent car spares shop should be able to supply a new nipple (probably not halfrauds then...) and then a set of molegrips to remove the old one.
 
Phil W said:
Mole grips :)
There isn't really enough room to get them onto the nipple. Also, I have to tighten it up with the bleed kit on there so there would definately be no room then.

I will look up the cost of my other options...
 
Don't worry about bleeding the thing until you have a new nipple in. Another way of possibly getting the old one out is to hammer a 6 sided deep socket onto it.
 
Would it come out much easier if it was heated up?

I dont have anything I could use to heat it up with, thats the problem.

I also want to replace the rear ARB bushes and drop links but the droplinks nuts are heavily corroded.

Anybody here own or know of someone that owns a garage that would alloy me to use their lift/pit and give me a hand removing the bits? Don't need any help with anything other than removing the corroded bits.
 
Be very carefull removing the bleed nipples with mole grips. Bleed nipples are notoriously easy to shear off, and when they do it's inevitably flush with the caliper body.

Apply lots of penetrating oil to it now so it had time to soak in before you attack it. Giving the top of a bleed nipple a good sharp blow with a hammer will help to release the threads, but make sure you hit it square to the top.
 
Since you mentioned brake cylinder, am I to assume this is a bleed nipple of the rear of the car?

If so, it might be a PITA to remove the old nipple and a possible idea would be to replace the whole cylinder? It might take a while longer, but for the sake of £8 a corner on the back...
 
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Changing the cylinder could solve the problem but I'm not sure if they should be done in pairs. Could save a lot of hassle though.
This is what brake nipple spanners are for. Stops you rounding the nipples off :) Any decent car spares shop should be able to supply a new nipple (probably not halfrauds then...) and then a set of molegrips to remove the old one.
Can you get brake nipple spanners? I know you can get brake union spanners, but surely you can get a socket/ring spanner on a nipple.
 
Rear cylinders are normally fairly easy to remove from the car. As you have already ordered the new nipples, simply remove the cylinder and change the nipple with it off the car (as it will make it a lot easier to do).
 
wolseley said:
Rear cylinders are normally fairly easy to remove from the car. As you have already ordered the new nipples, simply remove the cylinder and change the nipple with it off the car (as it will make it a lot easier to do).

I have considered doing this as it wouldn't be too much of a hassle and I prefer to do jobs properly.

Also, I could take them off, then take them to a friendly garage and see if they will remove them with some heat if need be.

O/T - What's the story behind your forum name?
 
burns said:
Changing the cylinder could solve the problem but I'm not sure if they should be done in pairs.

Doesn't matter if you just change one.

burns said:
Can you get brake nipple spanners? I know you can get brake union spanners, but surely you can get a socket/ring spanner on a nipple.

Yes you can, they are thicker than a normal spanner. They aren't really needed a lot of the time though. You will probably have trouble finding them in the shops too, mine are imperial :)
 
burns said:
Changing the cylinder could solve the problem but I'm not sure if they should be done in pairs. Could save a lot of hassle though.
Can you get brake nipple spanners? I know you can get brake union spanners, but surely you can get a socket/ring spanner on a nipple.

But then once you have your socket on, how do you get the bleeder pipe on? ;) Not only are they thicker than a normal spanner, but they are a hexagon cuttout rather than double hexagon, so you really would struggle to round it off!

p.s. £5 for two bleed nipples???? Did you try a factor? About 75p each probably.
 
nutcase_1uk said:
p.s. £5 for two bleed nipples???? Did you try a factor? About 75p each probably.
Yes I know but I was at Ford parts place anyway and don't know the thread size.
 
Tesla said:
I went testing the brakes, from 50mph I stopped in around 8-10m I think.

No, you definitely didnt. Dont think there will be many cars you could haul up from 50mph in 30 feet. More like 30-35 metres (approx 100 feet, cant be bothered to work it out properly :p ). :D

Fog
 
OK I was wrong.

Ford say 26-28m from 50mph is about right. Seemed a heck of a lot shorter than 6 car lengths.

I am tempted to make some faint markings on the curb and test it out one late night.
 
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