Thread: Change caliper without having to bleed brakes?

Is it possible to change a caliper and not have to bleed the system? Not only do I not have the time to bleed the calipers but I am also afraid of opening the bleeders on my front calipers because they look rusty as hell and will probably snap on me. I need to replace the rear calipers because one is sticking and the other one looks like it might do the same thing soon.

A couple of suggestions was to wrap duct tape around the teeth of a vice grip and clamp the brake line shut to keep air from getting into the system while quickly swapping over the line to the new caliper. Has anyone ever heard or that working? Someone else added that once the line is connected to the new caliper, open the bleeder screw and have someone pump the pedal to the floor, release the vise grip and tighten the bleeder once the fluids runs out.

Worse case senario I will have to end up bleeding the whole system but I would rather not have to replace the front calipers because of a broken bleeder.

Not a chance that you could get away with that. You WILL need to bleed at least that caliper and the oposite side front one. Spray a little penetrating oil on the bleeders before you try to loosen them.

Best bet is to not only bleed all the brakes but to flush all the brake fluid in the process, just bleed until you get clear fluid coming out. A bottle with a hose and some brake fluid in the bottom covering the end of the hose will help out a bunch and should allow you to bleed by yourself, don't let the master cylinder get too low while you are bleeding.

how you gonna get the calipers off without taking the bleeders off you answered your own question

How so? The problematic bleeders are on the front calipers. I am replacing the rear calipers with new ones. I don't understand what you're getting at, the bleeders don't have anything to do with removing the calipers.

how does the caliper get brake fluide you gotta take off the line neways which will leak brake fluid

Did you read all of my post? The point of clamping the line is to keep the fluid from leaking out of the line during the 10-15 seconds it takes to swap the brake line onto the new calipers.

sorry didnt read it but, wont you have problems with clamping the line too tight

I don't think it's going to work for you. Even if you clamp the lines, you're going to end up with air bubbles where you re-attach them. It takes all of 15 minutes to bleed a caliper. What's the big deal? It should take even less if you had them clamped.

for real? youre not that stretched for time man

just bleed them like normal people. Not worth guessing if your lines are good or not. Saftey first.