Bleeding Brakes

[JCarbaugh]

So I am new to Legends (and...brake bleeding) and was curious what the proper method of procedure was to properly bleed your brakes.  I have purchased a vacuum pump to properly allow me to perform the bleeding by myself, but am having difficulties. 

What I am doing now is the following:
Removing the lid from the reservoir
Hooking up the vacuum pump to brake bleeding (starting with LR)
Pumping until about 20 PSI
Cracking the bleeding valve

The contents coming out are 95% air/5% fluid.  I have tried increasing & decreasing the brake bias but am getting the same results.

Note: I practices last weekend and when braking, my pedal was go about 1-2 inches down and then become extremely stiff.  After trying to bleed them last night, the pedal is depressing all the way to the floor.  Another thing is before I started, I removed the brake housing (verbiage?) cover that goes between the wheel and cannot get it back on that wheel due to the brakes being energized.

Any thoughts? 

What am I doing wrong?

[justfreaky]

I was taught to start with the brake farthest away from the master cylinder (right rear). Have also heard people say the LR is the farthest away because of how it is plumbed.
Regardless... I have heard several people complain of issues trying to bleed the brakes. It takes some patience I guess.   

I am not clear on what you are calling a "brake housing", or why you would take it loose when bleeding the brakes.
Release the pressure by opening the bleeder.

Are these all new brake parts and/or master cylinder? Or have you drained the system completely?
Master cylinder needs to be bled first.

Could there be an issue with the push rod length between the pedal and the master cylinder?
Could there be a blockage in any of the lines?
Are brakes installed correctly?
Step back; Drink a beer; and look over everything. Sometimes we get stuck on a simple problem because we are frustrated.

My thoughts, For what it's worth.

Steve

[Jason Treschl Racing]

Also, if you are using a vacuum bleeder you have to make sure that no air is coming from between the threads of the bleeder. Most of the air you are sucking out is probably from there, not the actual brake system.

[Legends57x]

I agree with 90Legend...I have attempted to use vacuum bleeder twice now on my car with little success.  I did not apply pipe tape to bleeder screw as suggested, so that was probably inducing air leak pulling in more air than fluid. Went back to old fashioned way of bleeding brakes by pumping pedal 3 times and slightly open screw to bleed each wheel, starting at rear of car. You can actually take an old broom handle cut to proper length to pump brakes up and wedge between pedal and back of seat if you don't have someone available to assist. I do final bleeding with person assisting though.

Hope this helps!

[JCarbaugh]

I finally got it figured out.

The vacuum method doesn't work anywhere near as well as advertised. I think I was getting air through the threads as was previously explained on a reply.

I removed my brake drum to adjust the star washer and the adjustment came off alignment, that's why I wasn't able to get the brake drum back on.  I had the wife pump the brakes for me while I cracked each bleeder, and got plenty of fluid.

Thanks again for the help and insight!