If you had a truck that was being a bitch to bleed (and we all have had them) and money was no object, would you go for a vacuum or a pressure bleeder?

 

I myself wouldn't go to that expense or trouble unless brake bleeding was something I was doing on a regular basis---for one or two problematic vehicles I'd tough it out the old fashioned way. If dealing with an ABS system I'd buy a scanner or dedicated tool used to do the service bleed procedure properly as that can be quite difficult or impossible to do without such a device.

I might consider the "speed bleeder" fittings or a good quality check valve brake bleeder if you don't always have a helper. I've used those to good effect but never had any ABS issues to deal with at the same time.

Not sure this helps but its my first thought.

 

i have pressure pot bleeder. i have used it MAYBE four times in the past 40 years.
i gravity bleed as 99.99% of the time i am by myself.

 

I agree. You probably figured out this is about that 1996 E350 with the impossible to find ABS pump module. I pulled the trigger and bought it, the guy had already replaced the booster and master cylinder. Severly mushy pedal and won't pump up hard. When we manage to get a couple days without rain I'm gonna get into it.

 

My '03 E250 had the ABS control module fail providing a constant signal to the pump so it was running full time whenever electrical power was on. Removing Battery Junction Box (under hood) stopped the pump without affecting the brakes at all. I naturally don't have ABS but having grown up without it I know how to effectively stop. Its a nice feature but not 100% necessary, IMHO anyway.

 

same with my 04. the module shorted out and i lost brakes. so the abs stuff all went in the garbage can.

 

That's interesting----my E250's brakes normal operation wasn't affected at all---had it not been for the loud buzzing and lack of ABS fault code in the instrument cluster I'd not have realized the control module had failed.

 

mine did not fail, a headlight wire broke and put 12 volts where it should not have been and cooked the module causing the ABS valves to close, and no brakes when i stepped on the pedal.
lucky for me i was in a large field on the farm.

 

Wow---talk about a series of inconvenient events huh? Glad you were safe---that coulda been a disaster if out on the highway.

 

you have no idea!!!
5 years ago i pulled of a major highway into a store. put it in reverse and backed into the parking spot. as i tried to straighten into the spot the truck still turned.

what the heck??? under the truck i looked, and saw the steering link snapped out of the pitman arm and hanging there. 90 seconds earlier, and it would have been REAL ugly.

 

I've had a tie rod end break and three times have had a ruptured brake line (different "older" vehicles) but each time is was at slow speeds and so close to home it was ridiculously lucky. One of the brake lines had driven over 260 miles round trip to a job, not a bit of trouble until pulling into one more job parking lot while backing up against a berm a line broke. I was at a customers big truck repair shop so they took care of it but whew--all that driving through Cincinnati OH traffic and not a hint anything was wrong.

 

i am used to doing "stupid" things. clutch pilot bushing seized to the input shaft of the trans locking the clutch up.in pittsburg. drove the car home 8 hours with no clutch pedal. if i had to stop i kicked it into neutral, shut it down, stuffed it in first, and turned the key to start engine when light turned red then floated gears to get back into fifth.
lost a brake line at 2 am on the interstate 140 miles from home. used the trans to downshift, and parking brake when i got home.
lost a clutch rod on a tractor trailer too, drove that one home 200 miles. the mechanics in the shop loved me because they never had to come out and fetch me home. unlike all the rest of the steering wheel holders who would shut the truck off and call for road service if engine temp got over 185, or air pressure moved off 120 lbs, or volt gauge moved off 13.5 volts, ect ect.
the boss man started specing trucks with a fuel gauge, speedometer, and tach. all other functions were on a kysor engine shutdown system.

 

Wow---just had a flashback to Daytona Beach FL back in 1986 or so--was there the weekend of The Busch Clash, heading back home right after the race Sunday. With two younger guys who knew how to drive a standard shift transmission IF everything was functioning well, like the clutch. Earlier Subaru station wagon on loan, clutch cable snapped on Saturday night about 8:30pm. At that time Subaru parts were scarce, I had no tools yada yada yada.

I had to do the same warm engine, shut down to put it in first and restart, floating the gears so we could get back on the road. Did I mention we were just about 1.000 miles from home, HAD to be back in Columbus OH to open my body shop for the week.

The two younger guys soon enough caught on to driving with no clutch but as it was a loaner I drove as much of the time as I could. We made it back in time to open my shop, ordered the parts and waited until they arrived a few hours later set about making repairs. Honestly it took longer to remove the spare tire sitting on top of the engine than it did changing the broken cable. IIRC the cable was like $18--it now occurs to me since it was in stock way back then that could have been a common problem way back then?

Good times in automotive exploits.

 

if we old folk all got together and told our "war stories" to todays kids, they would have heart attacks at the stuff we did to get by.

i mean REALLY??? you chewed a pack of bubble gum and put it in the hole in the oil pan to get home? why didn't you just call triple A??

 

Yeah---too many kids are being raised to NOT be self-sufficient and think on their feet---if its not on their silly-*** "smart phones" its not to be found by them.