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Trick to remove rubber hose to Slave Cylinder?

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Henson80MGB

Henson80MGB

Freshman Member
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Another "hopefully" easy question.....

I was a good person and put the new to me 80 MGB away for the winter knowing I needed to replace the clutch slave cylinder as soon as I wanted to pull it out.

Ordered the new one for Christmas,
and started today.

1) removed old cylinder
2) installed new one
3) noticed the rubber hose going to the slave was a bit funky. (also seemed strange that the tightening "nut" on the slave cylinder side of the hose twisted the entire hose?? is that actually correct?)
4) started to bleed the clutch and got sprayed from a little hole in the rubber hose, about at the mid point.
5) Ordered new hose from Moss
6) went out to remove the old hose completely and can't figure out how to get any tool to either side of the connection to loosen and remove.

So what if any trick is there of is there "process" of removing items to get to it?
 
Disconnect battery.

Remove starter.

Access then available.
 
Well, the battery is still out from the winter storage, so I'll give that a shot. (I was wondering if that was an option :smile: )

So, before I try next weekend, any tricks or words of advice in the starter removal & reinstallation?
 
Henson80MGB said:
Well, the battery is still out from the winter storage, so I'll give that a shot. (I was wondering if that was an option :smile: )

So, before I try next weekend, any tricks or words of advice in the starter removal & reinstallation?
Click to expand...

Yes, if it is like the Midget, mind your language.
grin.gif
 
rick_ingram said:
Disconnect battery.

Remove starter.

Access then available.
Click to expand...

pull the oil filter housing and the dizzy cap, to pull the starter.

m
 
SilentUnicorn said:
rick_ingram said:
Disconnect battery.

Remove starter.

Access then available.
Click to expand...

pull the oil filter housing and the dizzy cap, to pull the starter.

m
Click to expand...
Yup, all this for just 1 ^$%*&! hose.
Then to top it off, the starter isn't light.
So make sure you pull the bottom bolt first.

Just had to add my 2 cents :jester:
 
and you better hope that the fitting spins on the steel line and does not twist it all up nice for you. New steel line from moss is like 40 bucks.

m
 
Soak both threaded ends in Weasel Pee for a while before you start twistin' things, and use line wrenches, not open-ends or Crescent tools.
 
Why not jack the thing up, or put it on a lift and work on it underneath??? Going down through the top, is like doing brain surgery with a monkey wrench!
 
Here is the way I change the flex line without removing the starter:

Drain the fluid
Remove the 1/4 BS line nut from the hose
Cut the flex line as close to the bracket as possible
Now you can use your 7/16 BS box end wrench on the hose under the bracket
Use a 1' socket on a long extension to remove the large nut on the bracket
Clean the large nut and make sure it will screw on the new hose. (I have not used a repro hose so I don't know the quality or the fitment. I changed at least 100 hoses at the dealer and later but they were still made by Lockheed)
Fit the new hose to the cylinder and tighten
Fit the other end to the bracket (now it is safe to hold the hose with the open end of the wrench
Fit the line nut and bleed the system

(It took me longer to write this than it used to take to change the hose)

AT
 
YES! Doing this job from the top instead of on a hoist is like doing a tonsillectomy proctologically!

homebeforedark said:
Here is the way I change the flex line without removing the starter:

Drain the fluid
Remove the 1/4 BS line nut from the hose
Cut the flex line as close to the bracket as possible
Now you can use your 7/16 BS box end wrench on the hose under the bracket
Use a 1' socket on a long extension to remove the large nut on the bracket
Clean the large nut and make sure it will screw on the new hose. (I have not used a repro hose so I don't know the quality or the fitment. I changed at least 100 hoses at the dealer and later but they were still made by Lockheed)
Fit the new hose to the cylinder and tighten
Fit the other end to the bracket (now it is safe to hold the hose with the open end of the wrench
Fit the line nut and bleed the system

(It took me longer to write this than it used to take to change the hose)

AT
Click to expand...
 
billspohn said:
YES! Doing this job from the top instead of on a hoist is like doing a tonsillectomy proctologically!
Click to expand...

That would surly take some long instruments! :jester:
 
thanks for all the great direction.

:frown: but I'm a shade tree (ok, 3rd bay in the garage) mechanic, and don't have access to a lift.

I'f do the cut the hose and remove the hose from the bottom, I can get under the car.

But to remove the 1/4" steel line connector, I think that will have to be from the top (from what I see).

And I will have to go buy some line wrenches for that (oh goodie justified new tools).

On the line wrenches, I have not used, so maybe a silly question, but I see those with a swivel between the head and the body, then there is the "crow-foot" where it's just the head and a 3/8" ratchet connection.

Is one much better in typical situations? and how about this specific situation?
 
The swivel style are a bit of a trick to get good torque on. I'd recommend straight-shank wrenches. Stick to the basics for now. :wink:
 
Might take longer to read all these posts than to actually do the job....


m
 
Well a good line wrench on the steel tube connector did the trick, and I didn't twist the steel hose into ribbons :smile:.

With a bit or persistence, I was able to remove the old hose and install the new new from Moss. (the new one was between 1/4 - 1/2" shorter, but seemed to connect fine.

Even without a lift, going from the bottom is much easier than from the top!

HOWEVER, in bleeding the clutch I'm still not getting any pressure in the lines.

After about 20 min of having the clutch pumped many times, holding and me opening up the bleeder valve getting the air out and closing the valve and repeating many, many rounds. (and making sure the fluid is full in the master cylinder) It seems the air is out, but I may be getting about 3 drops of fluid out for each round, and I see no movement on the push rod to the transmission.

I don't see any leakage at the steel hose connection at the master, the steel hose to rubber seems solid, and the rubber to slave has no leaks. The new slave I put in was moving, but was airtight when I tested before installing it.

It has been many years since I work on hydraulic clutch lines, so am I doing something silly?

Or is it what I think and need to rebuild the master cylinder :frown: now?
 
I've been asking myself twenty questions. And to help with the discussion I'll provide my questions and answers.

1) could the steel line be blocked before the slave (i.e., when disconnected something get in the hose? A: the clutch pedal has no resistance when going down, and I did get initial air out of the slave bleeder valve, so my guess is no blockage.

2) The fact that I got the initial air bubbles out of the slave cylinder when bleeding seems to indicate that something is working, but the fact that after I start to get only fluid out of the bleeding value it is only about 3 drops of fluid for about 12 clutch pumps seems a little strange.

3) I cleaned all around the master cylinder (I had dribbled some fluid when filling the master when bleeding) and then pumped and pumped the clutch and did not see any signs of any fluid leaking. So, the lose of pressure seems to be in the cylinders somewhere? If it was in the slave, I would think I'd see leakage around the rubber cap around the push rod?

4) But if the master cylinder is allowing so much fluid to bypass that I only see three drops of fluid out for each dozen pumps, would I have seen even the initial air being pushed out?

Sorry for the rambling, but I thought this discussion might help me :smile:
 
Sounds like you have a failing master cylinder. As the master is higher than the slave, gravity probably helped get the air out as well as the marginal assistance of the master cylinder. With the cap off the master and a friend to push the pedal you may find that the fluid level rises slightly in the reservor upon the pedal being pushed then going down when released. That would be my thoughts on that.
 
OK, I'm still trying sort out my situation.

1) started to remove the master cylinder and check out the seals. But how to gain access to remove the lower bolt on the master cylinder seems to be evading me.

2) So I thought I'd do some more "tests" with the master cylinder in place.
- I removed the steel line connector from the master cylinder.
- I held my thumb over the connection and had the clutch pedal pushed gently.
- fluid comes out with more pressure than I could hold!!
- Also when the pedal is pushed down and I keep my finger over the line connection on the master cylinder, the clutch pedal does not rise to the top, but rather is kept down by the vacuum being created by the finger over the line connection?

Again, it has been a long time since I worked and thought about this type of system, and chalked up the behavior to correct operation of the master cylinder, pushing and pulling the fluid.

So I thought maybe the steel line had developed a leak, but the steel line holds both pressure and vacuum.

So now, I'm rethinking and going beck to the Master Cylinder and realizing that the pedal being kept down by vacuum may not be correct. Shouldn't the master cylinder pull fluid from the reservoir and let the pedal back to the top to pump more fluid?
If the master is not doing that then that could explain why bleeding won't work??

Is it possible for a master cylinder to "fail" in a way to not pull more fluid from the reservoir to refill the lines?

Any thoughts? Sorry for the long posts :smile:
 
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