Removing Broken Bleed Nipples

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laverlesmains

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I've read a couple of the posts about drilling vs easyout for broken & rusted in bleed nipples.  I think I'll gently try the easyout with a bit of heat applied to the caliper body.  Question:  is it better to use a propane blow torch or borrow the Missus's hair dryer to heat the caliper..  I plan on repainting the calipers so I'm not worried about bubbling paint.
 
Aren't Brembos anodised?  If so, they could probably take a little bit of heat from a blowtorch.
 
I snapped a bleed nipple on the hydraulic clutch (sprocket cover) once.
It left a nice hole for the Easy Out to fit in, which promptly snapped off as soon as I applied any pressure to it.
Fffffff.
Took it to a friendly engineering company who spark eroded it out. Perfect.
I took a new bleed nipple so they could gauge the depth. Didn't cause any grief to the threads or seat bottom. Just screwed in the new nipple and job was a good 'un.

I would NEVER trust an Easy Out again to remove a bleed nipple.
 
Easy Outs suck... even more sophisticated extracting systems usually fail to remove the suckers, making removal almost impossible.  Reckon spark eroding to be the most effective and safest method of removing a snapped nipple.

When loosening corroded nipples, I first apply a LOT of heat from a hot air gun, all it's got for quite a while.  Don't worry about the surface finish, the anodising can usually stand it.  With a bit of turning pressure applied with an 8mm ring spanner, I gently tap the top of the nipple with a hammer, the caliper usually releases the nipple without tearing off the threaded part... a damaged nipple removed in one piece is a lot better than an un-damaged upper part torn off.  This of course applies only to the M6 nipples, the later M10x1 are far less of a problem.

piet
 
  That is uncanny Piet... that's exactly the way I do it.. tap tap tweak  :) Never atempt to shift them cold regardless of condition. If I do get a bust one I can generaly machine them out and save the caliper. Only have to resort to spark erosion when they come with a drill or an easy out already stuck in 'em.



    Keith.
 
I have a had some succes useing a torx tool, first find a torx tool that will go into the hole left by the bleed nipple when it snaps off,needs to be a drift in fit (oh allright hammer in) next, boil the thing in a pan of water on the stove for about 20 minutes, then (useing gloves) quickly get it to a vice and try to turn the item out, if it just strips then nothing is lost realy, you just have a slight bigger hole, but if it comes out then get to the pub!
CLEM
 
brilliant..  halfway to the pub

IMG_0127.jpg



  one down, one more to go.

but every success is doomed to end in abject failure.

IMG_0128.jpg


  arrgh.   now to see if the drill press can handle drilling out a bit of torx bit.
 
i've had good results using a small oxy-act torch to heat a broken bit or tap to red
then drilling out

left hand drill bits are also handy before something gets broke off inside  ;)
esp after heating an alloy part to remove a broken steel piece
 
In 30 years of owning and fettling many Italian bikes with Brembo brakes. I've never come across a stuck bleed nipple. Is it the salt on the European roads that's causing it? (we don't get salt on roads here)

Cheers,
Cam
 
at some point this bike sat in a damp climate - North Carolina.  Several bolts/nuts were quite rusty.

either the PO or the original owner tried to get two of the nipples off and sheared them below the surface of the caliper.  I got one out, need to think for awhile about how to attack the other.
 
You have to know when to stop turning,(looks like you didnt!) if you have got a good "bite" and it moves at all, then dont screw it out, screw it back in, to move it back and forth about 10 degress for about a thousand times, it's much better than just unscrewing first.
CLEM
 
Had two seize and snap on the bike I bought, it came with one and I did the second. Removed one with an old screwdriver ground to a point with sharp edges, hot air gun, tap it in and unscrew. Well one did, the other wouldn't budge, I was afraid of buggering up the caliper trying to drill it out so had that one spark eroded.

Maitland.
 
Cam I struck seized nipples and pistons on a set mounted on a Parallel Twin Ducati I wrecked,I fitted the frontend to my 64 Bonnie.It had sat in a garden for 10 years,I don't understand why some let this happen
even to unloved models.Leaned a lot from that nightmare,did the grease gun method to extract the pistons.
 
laverlesmains said:
at some point this bike sat in a damp climate - North Carolina.   Several bolts/nuts were quite rusty.
Click to expand...

Dry as a bone here in South Oz, and still busted one off when reconditioning the brakes on the Jota.  Just ended up buying another caliper and using it as a donor.  Brake fluid attracts water, so as dry as your air might be, there's always the potential for the old Bueller to turn up.
(Bueller = Ferris = Ferrous = FeO2 for those who don't understand the derivation)......

Vouch for the grease gun method, worked a treat on the Jota and the Guzzi 750S pistons.
 
copper slip on the threads seems like a good idea and maybe the aftermarket stainless type nipples, probably a lot harder and not softened by any plating process.I have used one set of s/s nipples on mates bike and they worked very well, I think he bought them from Giovannimoto (Giovanni Carrusso)
CLEM
 
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