That job I hated doing - I did ...

[dogtag]

my drum brakes. Fitting new shoes went smoothly but
getting the air out of the lines was a headache.
Anyway while the truck was on jack stands I realized
I didn't have enough dot 3. Only solution: go by Bus.
The little (20 seater) bus that runs to town from where
I am is called The Stagecoach. Costs me a dollar as a
senior, so I went there and back for 2 bucks - cheaper
than using my Truck and I really enjoyed it.
I could look at the country scenery which you obviously
can't do when you're driving. People were friendly, and
they all looked kinda like me, although they weren't as
handsome - but that goes without saying. Anyhow, I
think I'll be taking the bus whenever I don't need to
take the Truck.
I found that the word POSH also applies to the Bus:
Port Out, Starboard Home. (Ship cruises from UK to
warmer climes back in the day). Kept the sun out of
your cabin.

[JB White]

Bleeding drum brakes. Easy when two people who know brakes are working together. (Never had much use for the gizmos) Asking an ignorant type could be an exercise in futility, but at least you can make up some new derogatory cuss words.

[Allen]

The problem I would see riding a community type bus is the waiting. Obviously the bus can't wait for you while you do your shopping so you are let off. When you are ready to come home you catch a returning bus. How often do the buses come around? You go to a bus stop? What about when the weather is bad? Then there are just some things you don't want to carry on a bus like several bags of grocery's, a pair of ski's or that mint condition M-60 you just purchased.

I have an older model Silverado (1990). When I did a brake job on it I didn't have my wife around to help me. I just opened up the bleeders till they started dripping and the air was purged. No pumping required. I tried it on some of my other vehicles w/o any luck though.

[JB White]

Gravity bleeding works well on disc brakes. Not so well with cylinders and drums due to the design of the system. The open bleeder can allow air in over the top of the flow and bubbles float up, not down. Very easy to find yourself in a situation where you're compressing air instead of moving fluid.

[Mike in NC]

I used to work on British cars in my youth. Some of them, including some MGs had the bleed screw on the bottom of the slave cylinder and the feed line at the top. I guess you were supposed to turn the car on its top like a turtle. What we did was use a small hand pump dispenser like you would use for oil, fill the pump with brake fluid, put a clear hose on the end of the spout and then hook that up to the nipple of the bleed screw. Then we would slightly open the bleeder and pump brake fluid backwards from the slave cylinder up into the master cylinder. We did that at all four corners of the car. Never did understand why the Brits didn't understand that the air in the slave cylinder would go to the top of the cylinder.